Brief History of the Turner Prize

brief history Turner Prize winners tate modern london britain art controversy
Fiona Hanson / FLS / PA / AP

1995: Damien Hirst

The famed and polarizing British artist won the award for Mother and Child Divided, a sculpture featuring a (real) cow and calf, preserved and cut in half. Hirst, best known for preserving a 17-ft. (5 m) tiger shark in formaldehyde, had been nominated for the prize in 1992.

The Turner Prize was created in 1984 to celebrate contemporary art. It is named after British artist J.M.W. Turner, who painted in the 18th and 19th centuries and whose work was considered controversial by his peers.

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