JMW Turner may be a safe choice for new £20 note – but it's deserved

Yes, the artist is white, male and dead. But the Bank of England has honoured a radical visionary whose creativity is still inspiring

Joseph Mallord William Turner knew he’d be on a banknote one day. You can see it in his eyes in the visionary, assured self-portrait he painted in about 1799, gazing through the time vortex at his own future fame in justifiable confidence that he will always be acknowledged as the best of British artists.

The Bank of England’s choice of this white male painter who died in 1851 as the first ever British visual artist on our money may be criticised as conservative, safe and even reinforcing social hierarchy. We seem more and more to treat things like this as chances to make moral or political points. Why not a woman or artist of colour? And why not someone modern? Barbara Hepworth, Vanessa Bell, Ronald Moody or Laura Knight, maybe?

Related: JMW Turner to be face of next £20 note

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