Move over Winston Churchill, the new £20 bank note is all set to don a new face. The Bank of England has released its list of British artists that are being considered as the face of the £20 note. With over 29,000 submissions, there is surely no shortage in choices from over 30,000 British citizens of their favorite, deceased visual artists who have “helped to shape British thought, innovation, leadership, values and society”.
A final list of 592 individuals includes the likes of fashion designers Alexander McQueen, Thomas Burberry and Jean Muir, artists Francis Bacon, William Hogarth, Leigh Bowery, Derek Jarman, Lucian Freud, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Richard Hamilton and Pauline Boty, film directors Alfred Hitchcock, Tony Scott and Stanley Kubrick, and fashion photographers Corinne Day, Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson. The final decision will be made based on the strength of the nominee’s contribution and not on the number of nominations.
Chief Cashier Victoria Cleland stated, “I am delighted with the number of nominations we have received, and appreciative of the public’s engagement in this new initiative. The fact that so many visual artists have been put forward underlines the extent of British achievement in the visual arts and reinforces why this field deserves to be recognised on the next £20 note.”
The winning artist’s name will be announced sometime in spring 2016, and the new note is set to be in circulation within the next three to five years.
[Via – Express & Star]
