Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision
Encyclopedia
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision is one of the best known paintings to come out of the Stuckism
art movement, and a likely "signature piece" for the movement, standing for its opposition to conceptual art
. It was painted by the Stuckism co-founder Charles Thomson
in 2000, and has been exhibited in a number of shows since, as well as being featured on placards during Stuckist demonstrations
against the Turner Prize
.
It depicts Sir Nicholas Serota
, Director of the Tate Gallery
, and the usual chairman of the Turner Prize jury. "Emin" satirises Young British Artist Tracey Emin
's installation My Bed
, consisting of her bed and objects, including knickers, which she exhibited in 1999 as a Turner Prize nominee.
of the Stuckism
art group, which set out to promote figurative painting, in opposition to conceptual art
, which they identified with the Turner Prize
(whose jury chairman was Sir Nicholas Serota
) and the Young British Artists
, of which Tracey Emin
(who had once been in a relationship with Childish) was a leading representative.
Thomson's painting shows Serota, the director of the Tate
gallery. He is smiling behind a large pair of red knickers on a washing line, saying "is it a genuine Emin (£10,000)" and thinking, "or a worthless fake?". This is a reference to Tracey Emin
's My Bed
, literally a display of her (dishevelled) bed with detritus which included a pair of her knickers, shown in the 1999 Turner Prize
at Tate Britain
. The image was painted over a few days and in a final 24 hour non stop stint.
"My painting of Serota has become an icon of the Stuckist movement because it states our position in art," said Thompson. "We are for new figurative painting and anti stale, old conceptual art."
The painting was first exhibited in March 2000 at Joe Crompton's Gallery 108, Leonard Street, Shoreditch
, London, as the highlight of the third Stuckist show, The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota, which included a display of paintings about Serota. A small black and white image appeared in the Daily Telegraph. It was displayed again in the Stuckists Real Turner Prize Show later in the year. Richard Dean wrote:
The painting was included in the show catalogue, a signed copy of which was left at the Tate
for Serota by Thomson and Billy Childish
, the co-founder of the Stuckists. Artist Ranko Bon described greeting Serota at the opening of that year's Turner Prize
at Tate Britain
:
It was exhibited in summer 2002 during The First Stuckist International, the inaugural show at Thomson's Stuckism International Gallery
(which closed in 2005). Sarah Kent
(a staunch advocate of Britart
) said: "One might forgive his puerile humour if Thomson didn't consider it a serious weapon ... cut the ranting and Thomson could be a reasonable painter." Thomson pointed out in response, "it's reality. A few weeks after I did the painting, Tracey Emin was shown on TV getting very angry about an installation because someone had substituted another pair of knickers for hers ... That makes it a bit sad."
The painting was also shown at the 2004 Liverpool Biennial
in The Stuckists Punk Victorian
show at the Walker Art Gallery
. Serota went to the show and commented that it was "lively", while standing next to Thomson's painting of him. John Russell Taylor started his review of the Biennial in The Times
, "Say what you will about the Stuckists, they certainly know what they don’t like. In the eccentric British group’s latest show the most explicit target is clearly the Turner Prize: the attitude can be summed up in one painting, Charles Thomson’s Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision". 160 paintings from the show, were offered as a donation to the Tate, including Thomson's painting of Serota, but "not surprisingly" rejected by Serota, who said, "We do not feel that the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection."
The painting was the centrepiece at Spectrum London
gallery in September 2006 in the Go West
exhibition and priced at £30,000. The show at Spectrum London was the Stuckists' first show in a commercial gallery in the West End of London. The Spectrum London director, Royden Prior, said people shouldn't just look at the politics, but should look beyond them because "These artists are good, and are part of art history," Jane Morris wrote in The Guardian
, "If the stuckists go down in art history, and the jury is still out as to whether they will, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision by stuckist co-founder Charles Thomson may well become their signature piece." The Evening Standard
said some people would see the display of the painting as revenge against Serota, after he had rejected the Stuckists' offer to donate work to the Tate; it also mentioned that the Stuckists had first drawn attention to the Tate's purchase of The Upper Room
by Chris Ofili
, a Tate trustee, which had led to the Tate being censured by the Charity Commission
in 2006.
, the then Culture Minister
. Thomson adopted the painting of Sir Nicholas Serota and the knickers as the official logo of his party. He said "I can't see how the Electoral Commission would find it offensive. The real thing is on display at Tate Modern. What's more her knickers were funded by Chris Smith using public money."
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The painting was used on one of the placards, when the Stuckists staged a protest at the unveiling of Rachel Whiteread
's sculpture, Untitled Monument, in Trafalgar Square
on 4 June 2001. Serota remonstrated with Thomson and told him the demonstration was a "cheap shot".
.jpg)
The image has also been used on posters in Stuckist demonstrations
which were held outside the Turner Prize
at Tate Britain
2000–2006. Photographs such as the one shown are used on the Stuckist web site to promote and record the demonstration.
In December 2006, during the Stuckists' demonstration, Thomson handed Serota a leaflet with the painting on it. This incident was caught by a freelance photographer, Rick Friend, on video, which was put on the Stuckism web site, along with the still image from it shown here. Serota stood on the steps of the Tate and held up the postcard, saying, "Can't you make another image?"
Thomson has said that his painting was the idea that Stella Vine
used for her painting of Princess Diana, Hi Paul Can You Come Over, that launched her to fame when it was bought by Charles Saatchi
in 2004. Three years before, she had been a member of the Stuckist group and also briefly married to Thomson, who said that she was aware of the media appeal of the idea, as he had shown her press cuttings of the painting.
He said that she had not previously done a painting in that way and that "Her painting of Princess Diana was based on the same idea as my painting Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision — namely to imagine what a famous person is thinking and write the words next to a portrait of them. She has made an intelligent, innovative and personal interpretation of influences to form her own identity, which is what all artists do. It is only fair and honest to acknowledge there was this help and there has been an influence." Vine refutes the idea that Thomson and the Stuckists had any role to play in her development, citing her inspiration instead as Sophie von Hellerman
, Elizabeth Peyton
, Anna Bjerger, Karen Kilimnik
and Paul Housley
Thomson also drew a comparison between his and Vine's painting and a later work, Break Art Free, by Gina Bold
: "You can't deny there's a connection between those works, but they are all also works with a strong individual identity. You certainly wouldn't say it’s plagiarism, but they spring from the same underlying idea." Mark D
in turn made a satirical version of Vine's painting, substituting Victoria Beckham
for Princess Diana.
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art movement, and a likely "signature piece" for the movement, standing for its opposition to conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
. It was painted by the Stuckism co-founder Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
in 2000, and has been exhibited in a number of shows since, as well as being featured on placards during Stuckist demonstrations
Stuckist demonstrations
Stuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high profile both in Britain and abroad...
against the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
.
It depicts Sir Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
, Director of the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, and the usual chairman of the Turner Prize jury. "Emin" satirises Young British Artist Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
's installation My Bed
My Bed
My Bed is a work by the British artist Tracey Emin. First created in 1998, it was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. It consisted of her bed with bedroom objects in an abject state, and gained much media attention...
, consisting of her bed and objects, including knickers, which she exhibited in 1999 as a Turner Prize nominee.
Background and description
In 1999, Thomson was the co-founder, with Billy ChildishBilly Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
of the Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art group, which set out to promote figurative painting, in opposition to conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, which they identified with the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
(whose jury chairman was Sir Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
) and the Young British Artists
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
, of which Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
(who had once been in a relationship with Childish) was a leading representative.
Thomson's painting shows Serota, the director of the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
gallery. He is smiling behind a large pair of red knickers on a washing line, saying "is it a genuine Emin (£10,000)" and thinking, "or a worthless fake?". This is a reference to Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
's My Bed
My Bed
My Bed is a work by the British artist Tracey Emin. First created in 1998, it was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. It consisted of her bed with bedroom objects in an abject state, and gained much media attention...
, literally a display of her (dishevelled) bed with detritus which included a pair of her knickers, shown in the 1999 Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
. The image was painted over a few days and in a final 24 hour non stop stint.
"My painting of Serota has become an icon of the Stuckist movement because it states our position in art," said Thompson. "We are for new figurative painting and anti stale, old conceptual art."
Shows
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, London, as the highlight of the third Stuckist show, The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota, which included a display of paintings about Serota. A small black and white image appeared in the Daily Telegraph. It was displayed again in the Stuckists Real Turner Prize Show later in the year. Richard Dean wrote:
The painting was included in the show catalogue, a signed copy of which was left at the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
for Serota by Thomson and Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
, the co-founder of the Stuckists. Artist Ranko Bon described greeting Serota at the opening of that year's Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
:
- "Ah," I grabbed him by his bony shoulders, "when I look at you like this, I cannot but see Charles Thomson's portrait of you, which I saw last night at The Real Turner Prize Show in Shoreditch." I emphasized the word "real" with all my might. "Yes," Nick beamed back at me without even blinking, "I must see it!"
It was exhibited in summer 2002 during The First Stuckist International, the inaugural show at Thomson's Stuckism International Gallery
Stuckism International Gallery
The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckist art movement. It was open 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism...
(which closed in 2005). Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent is a British art critic, formerly the art editor of the weekly London 'what's on' guide Time Out. She was an early supporter of the Young British Artists in general, and Tracey Emin in particular, helping her to get early exposure. This has led to polarised reactions of praise and...
(a staunch advocate of Britart
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
) said: "One might forgive his puerile humour if Thomson didn't consider it a serious weapon ... cut the ranting and Thomson could be a reasonable painter." Thomson pointed out in response, "it's reality. A few weeks after I did the painting, Tracey Emin was shown on TV getting very angry about an installation because someone had substituted another pair of knickers for hers ... That makes it a bit sad."
Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
in The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
show at the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
. Serota went to the show and commented that it was "lively", while standing next to Thomson's painting of him. John Russell Taylor started his review of the Biennial in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, "Say what you will about the Stuckists, they certainly know what they don’t like. In the eccentric British group’s latest show the most explicit target is clearly the Turner Prize: the attitude can be summed up in one painting, Charles Thomson’s Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision". 160 paintings from the show, were offered as a donation to the Tate, including Thomson's painting of Serota, but "not surprisingly" rejected by Serota, who said, "We do not feel that the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection."
Spectrum London
Spectrum London was a London art gallery which showed contemporary figurative painting, photography and sculpture. It staged Go West, the first commercial West End show of the Stuckists, and a retrospective by Sebastian Horsley...
gallery in September 2006 in the Go West
Go West (exhibition)
Go West is the title of the first exhibition by Stuckist artists in a commercial London West End gallery. It was staged in Spectrum London gallery in October 2006...
exhibition and priced at £30,000. The show at Spectrum London was the Stuckists' first show in a commercial gallery in the West End of London. The Spectrum London director, Royden Prior, said people shouldn't just look at the politics, but should look beyond them because "These artists are good, and are part of art history," Jane Morris wrote in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, "If the stuckists go down in art history, and the jury is still out as to whether they will, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision by stuckist co-founder Charles Thomson may well become their signature piece." The Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
said some people would see the display of the painting as revenge against Serota, after he had rejected the Stuckists' offer to donate work to the Tate; it also mentioned that the Stuckists had first drawn attention to the Tate's purchase of The Upper Room
The Upper Room (paintings)
The Upper Room is an installation of 13 paintings of rhesus macaque monkeys by English artist Chris Ofili in a specially-designed room. It was bought by the Tate gallery in 2005 from the Victoria Miro Gallery and was the cause of a media furore after a campaign initiated by the Stuckist art group...
by Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili is a Turner Prize winning British painter best known for artworks referencing aspects of his Nigerian heritage, particularly his incorporation of elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists, and is now based in Trinidad.-Early life:Ofilli was born in Manchester. He had a...
, a Tate trustee, which had led to the Tate being censured by the Charity Commission
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....
in 2006.
General election
In 2001 Thomson stood in the General Election as the Stuckist Candidate. His opponent was Chris SmithChris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury
Christopher "Chris" Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury PC is a British Labour Party politician, and a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister...
, the then Culture Minister
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...
. Thomson adopted the painting of Sir Nicholas Serota and the knickers as the official logo of his party. He said "I can't see how the Electoral Commission would find it offensive. The real thing is on display at Tate Modern. What's more her knickers were funded by Chris Smith using public money."
Demonstrations
Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
's sculpture, Untitled Monument, in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
on 4 June 2001. Serota remonstrated with Thomson and told him the demonstration was a "cheap shot".
Stuckist demonstrations
Stuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high profile both in Britain and abroad...
which were held outside the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
2000–2006. Photographs such as the one shown are used on the Stuckist web site to promote and record the demonstration.
In December 2006, during the Stuckists' demonstration, Thomson handed Serota a leaflet with the painting on it. This incident was caught by a freelance photographer, Rick Friend, on video, which was put on the Stuckism web site, along with the still image from it shown here. Serota stood on the steps of the Tate and held up the postcard, saying, "Can't you make another image?"
Influence
Stella Vine
Stella Vine is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in...
used for her painting of Princess Diana, Hi Paul Can You Come Over, that launched her to fame when it was bought by Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
in 2004. Three years before, she had been a member of the Stuckist group and also briefly married to Thomson, who said that she was aware of the media appeal of the idea, as he had shown her press cuttings of the painting.
He said that she had not previously done a painting in that way and that "Her painting of Princess Diana was based on the same idea as my painting Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision — namely to imagine what a famous person is thinking and write the words next to a portrait of them. She has made an intelligent, innovative and personal interpretation of influences to form her own identity, which is what all artists do. It is only fair and honest to acknowledge there was this help and there has been an influence." Vine refutes the idea that Thomson and the Stuckists had any role to play in her development, citing her inspiration instead as Sophie von Hellerman
Sophie von Hellerman
Sophie von Hellerman is an artist based in London who gained a fine art degree at the Royal College of Art.Von Hellerman has shown work internationally in exhibitions including "Dear Painter… Paint Me" at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, "On The Ground" at Vilma Gold in London and "Post Modern" at...
, Elizabeth Peyton
Elizabeth Peyton
Elizabeth Joy Peyton is an American painter who rose to popularity in the mid-1990s. She is a contemporary artist best known for stylized and idealized portraits of her close friends and boyfriends, pop celebrities, and European monarchy...
, Anna Bjerger, Karen Kilimnik
Karen Kilimnik
Karen Kilimnik is an American painter and installation artist.-Life and work:Karen Kilimnik trained at Temple University, Philadelphia.Her installations reflected a young viewpoint of pop culture...
and Paul Housley
Gina Bold
Gina Boldis an English artist/poet, who makes paintings, stained glass and sculpture. She was an artist in residence at Arlington House from May to November 2007.- Life and work :...
: "You can't deny there's a connection between those works, but they are all also works with a strong individual identity. You certainly wouldn't say it’s plagiarism, but they spring from the same underlying idea." Mark D
Mark D
Mark D, born Mark Randall, is a British artist and punk musician . He is also associated with the Stuckist group of artists.-Life and work:Mark D was born and spent his childhood in Peterborough. He now lives in Nottingham...
in turn made a satirical version of Vine's painting, substituting Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
for Princess Diana.