Map Of An Englishman
Map Of An Englishman
Signed Print
Grayson Perry
£180,000-£270,000Value Indicator
$380,000-$570,000 Value Indicator
$330,000-$500,000 Value Indicator
¥1,740,000-¥2,610,000 Value Indicator
€210,000-€320,000 Value Indicator
$1,900,000-$2,850,000 Value Indicator
¥35,140,000-¥52,710,000 Value Indicator
$240,000-$360,000 Value Indicator
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110 x 149cm, Edition of 50, Etching
Medium: Etching
Edition size: 50
Year: 2004
Size: H 110cm x W 149cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
Last Auction: June 2024
Value Trend:
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Meaning & Analysis
This signed etching from 2004 is a limited edition of 50 from Grayson Perry’s Maps collection. The horizontal print shows a fictitious map rendered in the manner of antique cartographies. The map guides the viewer through “romance”, “cliché”, “wishes” and “dreams”, which are metaphoric and symbolic labels through which Perry demarcates the territory.
Map Of An Englishman constitutes Perry’s first attempt at etching, a technique the artist took up repeatedly and which he mastered in this and following pieces like Print for a Politician or The Island Of Bad Art. The inspiration for the piece seems to have been The Map of Tenderness, published in London in 1678 as the frontispiece to the English edition of Madeleine de Scudéry's novel, Clelia, an Excellent New Romance.
Foreshadowing his Map of Nowhere and Map of Days, this work also maps Perry’s own internal states, presenting the viewer with a bidimensional outline of the artist’s psyche, his desires and his fears, dominated by the island of consciousness. To further reinforce the reading of the piece as a map of his psyche, the artist purposefully delineated the contours of the land to evoke the structure of the brain. When asked about the work, Perry blatantly replied: “A lot of people think it’s generally like an Englishman … It is an Englishman. It is me.”
Bringing together Perry’s interest in printmaking and maps, this map offers the viewer a highly intimate glance into the artist’s identity and speaks to the paradoxes of the human psyche.
The highest value realised for a work by Grayson Perry was in October 2017, when I Want To Be An Artist fetched £632,750 at Christie's, London. The values achieved for Perry's work at auction regularly land in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A beacon of British contemporary art, Grayson Perry defies artistic norms with his distinctive blend of wit, satire, and profound social commentary. Renowned for his ceramic masterpieces adorned with intricate narratives, Perry's alter-ego, Claire, adds another layer to his multidimensional artistry. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2003, Perry delves into the complexities of identity, class, gender, and societal norms. His tapestries, sculptures, and drawings showcase a keen insight into the human condition, challenging viewers to confront uncomfortable truths with humour and empathy. Perry's artistic victories consolidate him as disruptor of mainstream expression and as a key player in the contemporary arts scene.
