National Galleries Scotland (NGS) was able to buy one of Sir Grayson Perry’s “greatest and largest prints” for nearly half its market value, newly released documents reveal.
The gallery paid £30,000 for The American Dream despite a valuation putting the work at £53,131.
The discounted price also included the artist’s specialist frame, which would “normally be about £4,000”.
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The 239cm-wide colour etching was purchased from Paragon (Contemporary) Ltd, the London publisher responsible for most of Sir Grayson’s prints and tapestries.
In a “justification statement” released to The Herald through Freedom of Information, NGS confirmed that the full cost was covered by donors.
The gallery said: “The Grayson Perry: Smash Hits exhibition, held at the RSA over the summer of 2023, is one of the most successful and popular shows ever mounted by NGS. We are now closely identified with Grayson, and vice versa. Yet we have no works by him in the NGS collection.”
It said his pots start at around £180,000 and were “beyond our price range”.
“But we do have the opportunity to purchase one of his greatest and largest prints, The American Dream, at a greatly reduced price of £30,000 — almost half price.”
The print is an “epic satirical statement on current culture wars, highlighting buzzwords, anxieties and issues that dominate our media, particularly social media”.
When it was displayed during the Smash Hits exhibition, Sir Grayson described it as a “response to my experiences there when filming my television series, Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip".
He wrote: “It toys with the common delusion that there is a clear and certain route out of our mess of feelings.
"Stylistically, I was thinking of Cold War propaganda maps showing the ‘communist threat’ in the 1950s.
"The Big Brother-like figure at the top is Mark Zuckerberg, the best known face of social media power.
"When looking at the conflicts that swirl around social media, I find it illuminating to observe the scene like a psychotherapist might listen to a client.
"When we experience a background hum of unfocused emotion, be it anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, we unconsciously look for something to attach it to.
"Social media is brilliant at supplying us with issues to which we can attach our free-floating feelings.”
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Patrick Elliott, Chief Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, told The Herald: “The National Galleries of Scotland has a statutory duty to collect art on behalf of the people of Scotland. We always look for best value and are grateful to vendors and dealers who give discounts to public collections.
"The American Dream was purchased from Paragon Press, which publishes most of Sir Grayson Perry’s prints. Having also supported the exhibition, the price reflects their ongoing generosity.
"This acquisition was only possible thanks to our wonderful Patrons who funded this purchase.”
The Smash Hits exhibition was visited almost 100,000 times in its four-month run.
Visitors were able to see over 80 of the Turner Prize winning artist's works, including tapestries, pots and plates – some of which were on public display for the first time.
It was the National Galleries of Scotland’s most visited exhibition in over ten years, and the fourth most visited since the reopening of the refurbished exhibition galleries in the RSA building in 2003.
Sir Grayson said it was "one of the most enjoyable and proud exhibiting experiences of my career".
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