TATE BRITAIN


TATE BRITAIN

Turner Prize

The Turner Prize: Year by Year

2003

Winner:
Grayson Perry

Shortlist:

Jury:

  • Andrew Wilson, Critic and Deputy Editor, Art Monthly
  • Richard Calvocoressi, Director, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
  • Frank Cohen, representative of the Patrons of New Art
  • Chrissie Iles, Curator, Film and Video, Whitney Museum of American Art
  • Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate
Turner Prize 2003 exhibition website

A potter wins the Turner Prize

This year’s shortlist was regarded as a mature selection of artists and the show was mostly praised as coherent and balanced. The Chapman brothers were considered the favourites to win and their sexually explicit bronze casts of blow-up dolls shown alongside a series of doctored Goya prints provoked some controversy. Grayson Perry, while a surprise, proved to be a popular winner and pictures of him dressed up as his alter-ego Claire graced all of the major newspapers. This year coincided with the first annual Frieze Art Fair in Regents Park, which attracted a large international crowd.

Grayson Perry at the 2003 Turner Prize reception Grayson Perry at the 2003 Turner Prize reception
© Tate Photography
The 2003 Turner Prize poster The 2003 Turner Prize poster
The 2003 Turner Prize postcard The 2003 Turner Prize postcard

Quotes

‘I think the art world had more trouble coming to terms with me being a potter than my choice of frocks … I am not a standard bearer for ceramics. I’m a standard bearer for Grayson Perry. There wasn’t a rush of taxidermists after Damien Hirst won.’

– Grayson Perry’s acceptance speech, December 2003

‘Grayson Perry’s art is stunning – combining beauty with acute cultural insights!’

– Visitor comment, 2003

‘Grayson Perry might get a few tuts from purists about his pots, and the relationship of the pottery to the images which decorate them, but nobody should much mind that he is also a transvestite called Claire, and that this invention is as important an element in his art and life as any of the other things he makes.’

– Adrian Searle, The Guardian, May 2003

Other News

  • Many march against the war on Iraq
  • Invasion of Iraq by US-led and UK forces
  • SARS global health alert
  • Saddam Hussein is captured in Tikrit, Iraq
  • Bali bombings
  • England wins rugby World Cup
  • First Frieze art fair held at Regent’s Park in London
  • Chris Ofili represents Britain at Venice Biennale
  • Saatchi Gallery moves to County Hall on Southbank in London