존 무어스 회화 프라이즈 John Moores Painting Prize

John Moores (1896-1993) was the founder of Littlewoods, a Liverpool-based company. A man of fierce local pride and a keen amateur painter, he was concerned at London's increasing domination of the national arts scene. He established the John Moores Painting Prize as a competition open to anyone and sponsored the exhibition’s prizes. He received a Knighthood in 1980, becoming Sir John Moores.

The first John Moores exhibition was held in 1957, six years after the Walker Art Gallery re-opened after World War II. The Liverpool Autumn Exhibitions, which up until 1939 had acted as the Gallery's main showcase for new British art, had come to an end. The Gallery's only regular shows of contemporary art were those of the local Liverpool Academy.

The first John Moores was intended as a one-off, but its great success led to it becoming a biennial event. By the early sixties, the exhibition was regarded as the UK’s leading showcase for avant-garde painting. Many of the prizewinning works were purchased by John Moores and presented to the Walker Art Gallery for its permanent collection. Among them were classic paintings by Jack Smith (' Creation and Crucifixion '), William Scott, Roger Hilton (' March 1963 ') and David Hockney (' Peter getting out of Nick's Pool '). These and other purchases from the exhibition ensured that the Walker Art Gallery's representation of post-war British art was equal to any other collection in the UK, the Tate being the only exception.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, as newer media challenged painting and the range of exhibiting opportunities for cutting-edge artists grew, the John Moores lost some of its unique status. During this period, the Walker Art Gallery did not always acquire the first prizewinner and the show was occasionally subjected to fierce criticism. However, it always retained its reputation as the UK's leading painting biennale and its first prize has continued to be one of the largest of any UK art competitions. The John Moores Painting Prize was also cited as one of the reasons for the Tate's decision to establish its first outpost in Liverpool, in 1988. From 1999, the exhibition has also been one of the centrepieces of the Liverpool Biennial of contemporary art.

Since 1980, the Walker Art Gallery has automatically added the first prize-winning work to its collection as part of the terms of the award. It has acquired outstanding works by John Hoyland (Broken Bride 13.6.82), Bruce McLean (Oriental Garden, Kyoto), Lisa Milroy (Handles), Peter Doig (Blotter) and Michael Raedecker (Mirage), among others.

Since John Moores 23 in 2004, the first prize is no longer a purchase prize. Instead, the painting that wins the first prize may be purchased by the Walker, meaning that the artist receives not only their prize money but the value of the painting in addition.

In 2011 Sir Peter Blake became the first patron of the John Moores Painting Prize, 50 years after winning the Junior section of John Moores 3 with his painting 'Self Portrait with Badges' in 1961.

John Moores Painting Prize China launched in August 2010. Applications were received from across China and 28 artists were selected for the inaugural exhibition.

Today, the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust works in partnership with National Museums Liverpool to organise and present the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery every two years.

The above content has been excerpted from https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/jmpp/john-moores-painting-prize