The Collection
Tab Label (see title)
| Artist | Grayson Perry (Born 1960) |
| Title | Print for a Politician |
| Date | 2005 |
| Medium | Etching (3 plates) |
| Provenance | The Paragon Press, London |
| Exhibition | "Government Art Collection: Selected by Cornelia Parker: Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain", Whitechapel Gallery, London 16/9-4/12/2011; "Revealed: Government Art Collection", Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 17/11/2012-24/2/2013 & Ulster Museum, Belfast 15/3-9/6/2013. |
| Dimensions | height: 67.70 cm, width: 249.50 cm |
| Inscription | verso, lr: Grayson Perry / 5/59 |
| Edition number | 5/59 |
| Acquisition | Purchased from The Paragon Press, June 2006 |
| Location | Other, public exhibitions, |
| GAC number | 18079 |
Other works by this artist
 | Map of an Englishman | Etching on four plates 2004 GAC 17893 |
 | Map of Nowhere | Etching (five plates on one sheet) 2008 GAC 18258 |
Tab Label (see title)
At two-and-a-half metres long, 'Print for a Politician' is a large engraving that unfolds before our eyes. It presents an imaginary land divided into zones populated by forests, rocks and twisted spires. Tiny, spidery handwriting reveals labelled faux demographic groups from 'agnostics' and 'provincials', to 'homosexuals' and 'Scientologists'. Grayson Perry is interested in the superficial labels that we and the media at large apply to each other. Underpinning the artificiality of the labels, Perry does not want us to read too much significance into where and how he has placed them. He revealed that while working on ‘Print for a Politician’ he ‘...harboured a fantasy of it hanging in a minister's office, helping him to temper any prejudices he may have'. A modern take on political satire, the print was partly inspired by the ‘Mappa Mundi’, the famous English medieval map that reveals a 13th-century interpretation of the world in spiritual and geographical terms.
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This work contains the following subjects; choose a subject below to cross-refer to other works in the collection:
- satire,
- hill,
- mountain,
- shipwreck,
- house,
- chair,
- tower,
- pick-up truck,
- car,
- rocket launcher,
- telegraph pole,
- sailboat,
- cannon,
- horse,
- horseback,
- tiled roof,
- tree,
- aeroplane,
- tank,
- jeep,
- kiln,
- man,
- woman,
- girl,
- cottage,
- tent/marquee,
- motorcycle,
- rifle (military),
- death,
- lorry/truck,
- chimney,
- ambulance,
- fortress,
- stone wall,
- archway,
- minaret,
- cave,
- windmill,
- ship,
- sea,
- helicopter,
- ruin,
- tea,
- shop,
- rocket,
- ladder,
- wagon,
- bomb,
- pagoda,
- gravestone,
- fair/festival/carnival,
- churchyard,
- trench,
- biplane,
- caravan,
- Maypole,
- barbed wire,
- jet,
- execution,
- crucifixion,
- hanging,
- burning
Similar works by subject:
satire
 | The Weighing Machine | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper GAC 2000 |
 | Dean Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Author & Satirist | Oil on canvas c.1740 GAC 2800 |
 | The Opening of Historical Buildings | Pen and ink and crayon, on paper 1957 GAC 3878 |
 | Hands beneath the Sea | Pen and ink on paper 28 December 1906 GAC 6538 |
 | Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (18... | ink, crayon and newsprint collage on paper (cartoon) c.1963 GAC 8829 |
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Grayson Perry was born in Chelmsford, Essex. He completed a foundation course at Braintree College of Further Education, followed by a BA in Fine Art at Portsmouth Polytechnic. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Britain and abroad. In 2003 he won the Turner Prize and famously collected the award dressed as his alter-ego Claire. Perry works across a range of media but is best known for his ceramic works which explore challenging, psychological themes as broad-ranging as child abuse, mental illness and masculine stereotyping.