Every year new objects enter Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums’ collection. Through a combination of gifts, bequests, donations and purchases we continue to breathe new life and meaning into the collection, guided by our Collection Development Policy. This display will be updated throughout the year to showcase new acquisitions entering the city’s collections.
Spotlight Display: Grayson Perry
A striking ceramic pot by renowned artist Grayson Perry is one of the most recent additions to our collection. It is now on display for the first time at Aberdeen Art Gallery. The purchase has been supported by grants from Art Fund, Aberdeen Art Gallery Trusts and the National Fund for Acquisitions.
Flamboyant, forthright and funny, Sir Grayson Perry is one of Britain’s most celebrated artists. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2003, he is also a BAFTA-winning TV presenter, Reith Lecturer and bestselling author. His one-man production 'A Show All About You' played to a sell-out audience at Aberdeen’s Music Hall in November 2023. This newly-acquired pot, entitled 'Alan Measles and Claire Under an English Moon', was part of 'Smash Hits', the biggest exhibition of Perry’s work to date, at the National Gallery of Scotland in 2023. The pot features Perry’s childhood teddy bear, Alan Measles, and the artist’s alter ego, Claire.
Aberdeen Art Gallery has a strong track record and commitment to collecting craft and applied art, including ceramics. Also part of this Spotlight display are examples from the Sandy Dunbar Studio Ceramics collection of hundreds of pieces by esteemed studio potters which was acquired in 2023. This outstanding collection of 480 individual pieces made by more than 80 potters will be showcased in an interactive ceramics display which will open on Level 2 in 2025. You can see a few highlights in the current Spotlight display: a bowl by Michael Casson, lidded jar by Rupert Spira, cider jar by Ray Finch and salt-glazed vessel by Jane Hamlyn.
Grayson Perry
Alan Measles and Claire Under an English Moon, 2023
Glazed ceramic
44 x 38 cm
17 3/8 x 15 in
© Grayson Perry
Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro
