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Liverpool jewellers sponsors John Moores Painting Prize
The Walker Art Gallery has announced that Liverpool jewellers, David M Robinson, will sponsor the £25,000 first prize of the John Moores Painting Prize.
It is the largest ever private sector support towards the prestigious competition which was dubbed "the Oscars of the painting world" by Sir Norman Rosenthal, 2010 judge and former Exhibitions Secretary for the Royal Academy.
Liverpool-born David Robinson began his own career with a major accolade when he won his first of two DeBeers Diamond Awards in New York.
He said: "I'm delighted to be able to support the arts on Merseyside and the John Moores Painting Prize in particular. I was lucky enough to have been helped in the development of my design business by winning two international diamond design prizes and it feels right to be helping others in the same way".
Director of Art Galleries, Sandra Penketh, commented: "We are overwhelmed by the generosity shown by David M Robinson in sponsoring the first prize of the John Moores. The competition, which is nearly sixty years old, was founded by a local art-loving and passionate business man, Sir John Moores. It is therefore entirely fitting that we should be working with David, another Liverpool-born business man who has played such an important and encouraging role as a supporter of the arts".
David M Robinson have been corporate members of National Museums Liverpool since 2004. In 2012 they supported one of the four John Moores runner up prizes.
The John Moores Painting Prize, organised in partnership with the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust, has a track record as a springboard for the careers of many influential British artists. Previous winners include David Hockney, Sir Peter Blake (now patron of the prize), Mary Martin, Peter Doig and, in 2012, Sarah Pickstone.
Sir Peter Blake's Self-Portrait with Badges won the junior prize in 1961, an achievement which he maintains is his 'proudest accomplishment' and which as a young artist, fresh out of art school, spurred him on to an internationally successful career.
The exhibition (5th July to 30th November, 2014) forms a major part of the Liverpool Biennial and coincides with the Liverpool International Festival of Business.
The John Moores Painting Prize is part of National Museums Liverpool's Modern Masters exhibition series, part funded by the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Picture: Sandra Penketh, Director of Art Galleries, in the centre with John Robinson and Alisha Duffy of David M Robinson
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The UK Sponsorship Database
