Mr And Mrs Perry

Perry created Mr And Mrs Perry in conjunction with a solo exhibition held at Victoria Miro, London, in 2006. The show was based on the premise that Perry, whose works have predominantly reflected on urban life, would go back to his roots, in the rural British countryside, where he was born and raised. Taking many historical artefacts from the Lincolnshire Museum, the artist put together a show geographically and historically located in the rural Victorian town life, claiming that such a historically-specific choice allowed him to reflect on the unequal divisions of labour and the unjust and grim conditions in which most women and children were left, thus defying any idyllic representation of British country life.

The man and woman represented in the picture are based on Perry and his wife, Philippa, but are evocative of Perry’s own ancestors, who presumably lived in rural Essex. Far from engaging in a loving or romantic relationship, the couple is portrayed as severe and uptight, their portraits resembling early 19th century sketches drawn by amateur artists in the streets of English towns. The austerity of the picture is thus in tune with the rest of the show, and works as a testament to the lives that were lived and soon lost to the poor living conditions of Victorian England.

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.