2009 YEARENDER: The year beauty returned to British modern art

Dec 31, 2009, 15:45 GMT

   London - For the past few decades, British contemporary art made headlines for its outrageousness of preserved sharks, unmade beds and diamond-encrusted skulls.

   But, as the ringleaders of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement - figures such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin - progress in age, maturity and wealth, a new era of beauty is dawning in modern art, experts believe.

   Hirst, who at 44 is reputed to be the world's richest artist, himself spearheaded the move away from radicalism with the history-making sale of all his major works in September, 2008, that raised a record 111 million pounds (198 million dollars) at the time.

   Since then, the former enfant terrible of modern British art has locked himself away on a country estate where he has turned his talent to painting - with some success, according to critics.

   'Hirst is a bellwether of culture. When he embarks on a radically new direction, it's time for all of us to take notice,' wrote Alastair Sooke, a leading art critic, in the Daily Telegraph.

   The new trend - or desire - for beauty in art was also underlined by a blockbuster show in London's Royal Academy (RA) this year of works by award-winning Indian-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor, which was visited by more than a quarter of a million people.

   While its centrepiece, an enormous cannon blasting red wax on the RA's pristine walls at intervals of 20 minutes, was no doubt the main attraction, critics praised the bendy mirrors and pleasing sculptures of bright powdery pigment as a further example of beauty in modern art.

   'Every now and then, a dramatic shift in the arts becomes perceptible, as the tectonic plates that underpin competing cultural trends groan and crunch into each other. As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, one such change is becoming apparent,' wrote Sooke.

   Like other critics, he has identified a further turning point with the award of the 2009 Turner Prize, Britain's most important accolade for contemporary art.

   Unlike in previous years, when scandal surrounded the winning items, this year's prize was awarded for a shimmering gold leaf painting by Glasgow-born artist Richard Wright, described by critics as bearing similarities with 'great Renaissance fresco art.'

   Wright, who at 49 is the oldest artist ever to win the prize - which has an under-50 age limit - was praised by the jury for the 'profound originality and beauty' of his untitled work.

   'Rooted in fine art tradition yet radically conceptual in impact, his works come alive as they are experienced by the viewer,' said the jury.

   The popular appeal of the highly elaborate painting, which covers an entire wall in Britain's Tate Gallery, was summed up in visitor comments pinned up outside the exhibition.

   'Refreshingly quiet, modestly beautiful,' said one, while another read: 'Thank you for bringing back some skills to the Turner Prize.'

   One woman praised the work for its 'attitude to marketability and mortality' and added: 'I'd quite like him to do my living room too.'

   Wright told British media he was touched by the response to his work, but added: 'It's almost as if people come along to an exhibition expecting art to be awful.'

   His victory meant that Britain's most notorious art prize had changed from being a 'showcase that caused outrage' to being in the hands of a 'thoughtful student of art history,' wrote the Times.

   Wright has insisted that the mural will be painted over once the exhibition of this year's Turner Prize entries draws to a close.

   'This work is not for the future. It's for now. If something is really important enough it will survive,' he said.