Liberty Specialty Markets announces art award winners

Authored by Liberty Specialty Markets

Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, announces the two winners of this year’s LSM Art Award.

Fatima Khan, a graduate of Kington School of Art is the winner chosen by the Expert Judges Panel. Fatima received a prize of £3,000 for her painting “The Mona Lisa”.  Khan is an artist known for her large-scale representations of women based on her series of ‘The Female Gaze’. Graduating with a BA Honours Fine Art from Kingston School of Art in 2020, she uses her art as a weapon to raise awareness of inequality and injustice in certain cultures from around the world by using strong figures and colours to portray agony and cruelty.

Ruth Swain, a graduate of Art Academy, London is the winner of the vote by Liberty Speciality Markets employees. Ruth, who received a prize of £2,000, for her painting “They say I used to look like her”. Swain is an award-winning portrait, figurative and still-life artist based in Oxfordshire. She works in oil, watercolour and pastel. Her large-scale images not only tell a story, but they show the emotional bond between subject and sitter. She graduated from the Art Academy London in December 2020.

Khan and Swain were two of ten art students from three art schools who were paid to display their work in LSM’s office in the City of London’s landmark Walkie Talkie building. The art schools involved were Kingston University, Brighton University and The Art Academy, London.

Emma White, Chair, Art Award Committee and Underwriter - Fine Art & Specie and Terrorism at Liberty Specialty Markets said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to continue our support of emerging artists through the LSM Art Award. As a result of the pandemic the landscape of the arts has changed radically, meaning that the graduates have benefitted more than ever from the support the programme offers.

“The entries this year have been fantastic.  I’m pleased that we are back in the office so that we can enjoy them in person.”

Since the programme was launched in 2018, over 25 UK-based emerging artists have been supported during their transition from art school to the commercial world. In addition to being paid to display their work, the artists received mentoring, networking opportunities and educational business workshops.

The four members of the Expert Judging Panel all work within the art world: Christine Gerber, Underwriting Officer and Fine Art Expert for Liberty Specialty Markets, Christine Riding is the Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of British Paintings at the National Gallery, Filippo Guerrini-Maraldi is Chairman of Howden Insurance Brokers Private Wealth Divisions and Head of the Fine Art team, and Megan Piper is the co-founder and director of The Line and she represents a small number of artists and artist estates with a focus on rediscovering and re-evaluating British artists whose careers started in the 1960s and 70s.

LSM is a leading global fine art insurer.  The company is a passionate supporter of the arts. As well as insuring works of art, it has global art initiatives in place which support artists at all stages of their careers.  It has a dedicated Fine Art team in London, Europe and the US.  Its insurance policies cover works of art and collections all over the world, both on site and in transit.

The Liberty Specialty Markets Art Award Committee were supported by a leading visual arts consultancy in the UK, Parker Harris who helped to organise this year’s programme. Thanks also go to the staff and students at Kingston University, Brighton University and The Art Academy London for taking part.

Due to the first lockdown in 2020 the exhibition was delayed, therefore the programme was extended into 2022.