Treasure hunt for lost Grayson Perry work yields riches
An international treasure hunt by the Holburne Museum to find pieces created by artist Grayson Perry may have found some of his early works. The museum has appealed for works created by the artist between 1983 and 1994 in order to stage an exhibition in 2020, and so shine a light on the artist’s experimentation with ceramics. The problem is the artist, who works in tapestry, collage and ceramics, wasn’t the best at recording his artworks, saying admin really wasn’t his strong point. Perry said: “When I started out making ceramics at evening classes, part of the reason I enjoyed it was that I could make artworks relatively quickly. “In my first decade of exhibiting I would often show over 60 or 70 works, made over the course of a few months. I sold these works for modest sums and often gave away what was left. “I was terrible at admin and photography so kept very little record of these early pieces. Most of these works were exhibited in London, though I also had shows in this period in Paris, New York and San Antonio, Texas. “I was very excited when the Holburne Museum proposed a show of my ceramics from the eighties and early nineties as it would also be an opportunity to find and record the beginnings of my career. “My record keeping hasn’t improved much: I recently moved house and found five pots in the loft which had been unseen since the eighties and a dozen plates from the early nineties in a cupboard under a sink.” Perry uses art to explore a range of important themes, including issues of gender, identity and social class, presenting through his art a unique perspective on the world. Holburne curator Catrin Jones said: “We are overwhelmed with the amazing response we’ve already had in just the few days since we launched our global Grayson Perry treasure hunt. “We’ve already had dozens of people, from across the length and breadth of the UK, make contact to share their stories and photographs with us. “Obviously it will take time for us to look into the stories and examine all the works – but the early signs are very exciting and encouraging. We know there are lots more works out there so we’d urge anyone who thinks they have a Grayson Perry early work to make contact with us via email at curator@holburne.org and title your email ‘Grayson Perry Lost Works.’” And despite the artist not being the best record keeper he made sure his work always had his mark for authentication. “Every single one of Perry’s ceramics has a potter’s mark, in fact there are 39 individual ones he used between 1983 and 1994, so we will be able to quickly check if a work is authentic,” added Ms Jones.