Four Artists Named as Finalists for Britain’s Turner Prize

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, a British artist who paints portraits of imaginary people, leaving it to the viewer to supply the biographical back stories - and whose first solo museum exhibition, “Any Number of Preoccupations,” was a hit when it was mounted at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2010 - is one of four finalists for the 2013 Turner Prize.

The prize, given annually by Tate Britain to a British artist under 50 (or in some cases, artists born elsewhere who live and work in Britain), is a cash award of £25,000 (about $38,600). The other finalists each receive £5,000 (about $7,700).

Because the Turner winners are typically young iconoclasts, the prize almost invariably leads to debates about the merits of contemporary art. The museum named the prize after the 19th-century British landscape painter, J.M.W. Turner, who was controversial in his day, largely for that reason.

Ms. Yiadom-Boakye, 35, lives in London and was nominated for her exhibition “Extracts and Verses.” She is joined on the short list by Laure Prouvost, 35, a French artist and filmmaker who works in London, and was nominated for “Wantee,” a performance piece, and several exhibitions; Tino Sehgal, 36, a British-born, Berlin-based artist, was selected for his “This Variation” and “These Associations” exhibitions; and David Shrigley, 44, a British artist known for his darkly humorous works (including a stuffed Jack Russellterrier holding a sign that reads, “I Am Dead”), who was shortlisted for “Brain Activity,” a retrospective of his drawings, photography, sculpture and film.

The nominees’ work will be shown together at an exhibition in Derry-Londonderry, from Oct. 23 through Jan. 5, 2014. The winner, to be selected by a jury headed by Penelope Curtis, the director of Tate Britain, will be announced at an awards ceremony on Dec. 2.