Grayson Perry’s exhibition comes to Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery

By Lucinda MacPherson 11th Jul 2024

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Supporters at this week’s preview (credit Lucinda MacPherson).
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Supporters at this week’s preview (credit Lucinda MacPherson).

A crowd of supporters sallied forth to Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery this week.

But although a football fan in red and white strip does feature in their latest exhibition, this flamboyance of followers were not there to see the Euros.

Colourfully clad friends of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery came to enjoy The Vanity of Small Differences, their new exhibition of vibrant tapestries by Sir Grayson Perry.

The tapestries weave together in wool, cotton, acrylic, polyester, and silk tapestry ideas of class and consumerism in contemporary Britain.

They weigh a hefty 19kg, which meant a team of six had to carefully put them in place with the aid of a lift truck and ladders in Pitzhanger's sun lit gallery.

The Pitzhanger team had turned around the exhibition in double quick time, hanging six highly detailed artworks measuring a monumental 200×400cm in a matter of hours so it could open for a preview for their supporters that evening.

Now residents can see for themselves these intricate, witty pieces in a beautiful gallery which bridges the past and present right in the heart of Ealing.

A Sunderland A.F.C. football fan on Grayson Perry, The Adoration of the Cage Fighters, 2012 (credit Lucinda MacPherson).

Clare Gough, Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, welcomed her guests saying: "We are thrilled to be sharing Grayson Perry's vibrant tapestries 'The Vanity of Small Differences' with our visitors at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.

"It is particularly appropriate to have brought the tapestries to Sir John Soane's country home—the house for which Soane purchased and then displayed William Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress,' the inspiration behind Perry's tapestries.

"Our visitors can compare and contrast the works of these two great English satirists, separated by 250 years, with their searingly witty commentaries on class and taste.

"Alongside Perry's tapestries they can look at a full series of the 18th-century engravings of 'A Rake's Progress' in their original setting on the vibrant red walls of Sir John Soane's drawing room, together with Hogarth's famous prints 'Gin Lane' and 'Beer Street.' 

"This exhibition not only celebrates the artistic lineage and inspiration from Hogarth to Perry but also invites our visitors to explore and question contemporary themes about society, class and opportunities for advancement, within this unique and historic setting."

The Vanity of Small Differences is jointly owned by the Arts Council Collection and the British Council Collection, gift of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, with the support of Channel 4 Television, the Art Fund and Sfumato Foundation with additional support from Alix Partners.

The Vanity of Small Differences runs concurrently alongside Pitzhanger's other exhibitions: A Fine Line: Modern Makers at Pitzhanger and From Waste to Wonder: The Art of Sustainable Transformation, where contemporary art stimulates a new perspective of historic architecture.

To find out more about Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, click here.

     

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