LONDON, Oct. 25, 2005—A prize for young female British artists has been launched to highlight a new generation of Tracey Emins and Rachel Whitereads, Alice O'Keeffe reports in The Observer.

"Judges of the inaugural MaxMara art prize for women have shortlisted five young female artists who stand to win a six-month residency in Italy worth several thousand pounds. They are the painter Anj Smith, photographer Anne Hardy, watercolorist Donna Huddleston, sculptor Rachel Kneebone and film-maker Margaret Salmon."

Whitechapel Gallery director Iwona Blazwick said in interview, "Their work is beautifully crafted with a huge attention to detail." Blazwick is heading the judging panel including the owner of the gallery Victoria Miro and Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing.

Giorgio Guidotti, director of communications for MaxMara, is quoted as saying that the prize was established "not because we are necessarily making a point about discrimination in the art world, but simply to give women artists an extra chance."

The Maramotti familythe owners of the MaxMara Fashion Groupalso collect contemporary art and have developed several public art installations in their Italian home city of Regio Emilia, according to The Observer.

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The Observer: "The new art elite: young, gifted, female"