- A new ceramic artwork by celebrated artist Grayson Perry, 'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19', is to join the COVID-19 display in the Science Museum’s Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
- Inspired by the design of ‘albarello’ pharmacy jars, the piece explores the experience of living through a national lockdown with a rich detailed tableau filled with images that have become symbolic during the pandemic
- The artwork was created during hit Channel 4 programme 'Grayson’s Art Club' which aired during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
© Science Museum Group
'Alan Measles – God in the time of Covid-19' by Grayson Perry
On display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries from 30 March 2022
sciencemuseum.org.uk/medicine
Today the Science Museum unveiled a new ceramic artwork made during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 by artist and cultural commentator, Grayson Perry.
'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19' has been acquired by the Science Museum Group and is now on display in the Science Museum’s Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries, the largest medicine galleries in the world.
The artwork is part of the COVID-19 display, which features objects acquired for the nation through the Group’s COVID-19 Collecting Project. The display provides an insight into the medical and scientific advancements of the last two years, but also a sense of the emotional impact of the pandemic. On show are historic empty vials used in the first mass vaccinations worldwide, signage from the Government’s daily briefings, homemade face coverings and COVID-19 testing kits.
Inspired by historic ‘albarello’ jars used to hold drugs in hospital pharmacies, examples of which can be seen in the Medicine Galleries, the artwork subverts the jar’s origin as a symbol of healing with imagery that depicts a society ravaged by division and despair. The simple colour palette evokes the style of medieval ‘Doom paintings’ while the fractious tableau echoes the tumultuous dissipation of a Hogarth painting. By drawing on different styles of British art from across the centuries, Perry has created an artwork that feels timeless yet contemporary in the issues it depicts.
© Science Museum Group
The artwork presents a narrative of lockdown experiences featuring Alan Measles (Perry’s famous teddy bear) alongside his alter ego Claire and Professor Chris Whitty, the UK’s Chief Medical Adviser. NHS workers are depicted as part of the tableau wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and holding rainbow signs, like the ones created by members of the public to show support for the NHS, images that became iconic symbols of the pandemic.
In 'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19', buildings in the background compare the rural and urban experiences of those with and without access to green space during lockdown. The artwork captures the nature of lockdown as a collective time where communities were united by a singular purpose but also as an isolating experience, formed by personal circumstance.
Artist Grayson Perry, said: ‘This work reflects my state of mind during a time of great fear and uncertainty. Alan Measles—my personal metaphor for God, masculinity, care and security—is shown distraught because his other half is seriously ill. His efforts helping at the hospital are mocked by protestors. Depressed and exhausted he joins a group of homeless people beneath a motorway.’
© Science Museum Group
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perry worked with Channel 4 to present two six-part television series of 'Grayson’s Art Club'. Each week Perry and his wife Philippa would produce new artworks exploring a specific theme. They also invited artists, celebrities and the public to join in and submit their own work, in a unique, collaborative television event.
'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19' was created during Series 1’s ‘fantasy’ themed week and the series captured the need for communal support and creativity at a time when the national mood was bleak. While the artwork depicts Alan Measles as depressed by the impacts of COVID-19, the wealth of artworks submitted by the public to 'Grayson’s Art Club' when it aired in spring 2020 illustrated the collective joy found in making and sharing art.
Natasha McEnroe, Keeper of Medicine at the Science Museum, said: ‘I’m delighted we have acquired Perry’s moving and beautiful artwork for Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries. The COVID-19 display in the galleries offers visitors the opportunity to see a selection of objects collected by our curators during the pandemic. These objects represent not only advances in diagnosis and protection against COVID-19, but now with Perry’s artwork the emotional impact of living through a public health crisis.’
'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19' joins other significant artworks acquired as part of the COVID-19 Collecting Project. These include Giclée print by The Singh Twins, 'NHS v Covid-19: Fighting on Two Fronts' which was featured on the ‘Britain’ episode of 'Grayson’s Art Club'; Angela Palmer’s glass sculpture of the coronavirus, '2020: the Sphere that Changed the World'; and Roxana Hall’s portrait 'Katie Tomkins, Mortuary and Post-Mortem Services Manager'.
The acquisition of 'Alan Measles - God in the time of Covid-19' by Grayson Perry has been made possible with the support of Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), the Victoria Miro Gallery, Contemporary Art Society and Hiscox Foundation. Visitors can see the vase in display in the Medicine and Communities gallery in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries from 30 March 2022.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact Freya Barry at freya.barry@sciencemuseum.ac.uk or on 020 7942 4327. Please find images available to download here.
Visitor information
The Science Museum is currently open Wednesday – Sunday from 10.00 until 18.00. During school holidays the museum is open seven days a week. From 1 July 2022, the museum will be open seven days a week during term time and holidays.
Listings
'Alan Measles—God in the time of Covid-19' by Grayson Perry
On display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries from 30 March 2022
Science Museum, London
Free
sciencemuseum.org.uk/medicine
Find out about the other artworks in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries.
About the Science Museum
The Science Museum is part of the Science Museum Group, the world’s leading group of science museums that share a world-class collection providing an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe.
Over the last century the Science Museum, the home of human ingenuity, has grown in scale and scope, inspiring visitors with exhibitions covering topics as diverse as robots, code-breaking, cosmonauts and superbugs. 2020 marked a decade of transformation for the museum with the opening of the largest medical galleries in the world—Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries and Science City 1500-1800: The Linbury Gallery— the story of how London became a hub of discovery during 1550–1800.
The Science Museum was named a winner of the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year prize for 2020. www.sciencemuseum.org.uk. Follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
About Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries are a magnificent new home for the most significant medical collections in the world. More than three thousand medical artefacts from the extraordinary collections of Henry Wellcome and the Science Museum Group are now on free public display in the world’s largest medical galleries.
About the COVID-19 Collecting Project
Since the pandemic began, curators across the Science Museum Group have been sensitively identifying and acquiring important items for the Science Museum Group Collection as part of our significant COVID-19 Collecting Project.
These items provide a permanent record for future generations of medical, scientific, cultural and personal responses to the outbreak and chronicle its impact on society.
Items joining the Science Museum Group Collection include:
- historic empty vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines which were used to administer the first worldwide mass vaccinations (kindly donated by the NHS)
- signage from the Government’s daily briefings
- prototype ventilators and other medical devices
- COVID-19 testing kits
- coronavirus-themed greetings cards
- homemade masks
- hand sanitiser dispensers from the transport network
- supermarket signage
- a wooden spoon broken banging a saucepan during the weekly clap for carers
- ephemera such as newspaper front pages and now-postponed wedding invitations
- a range of national and international artworks.
COVID-19 display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
The vials used in the first mass COVID-19 vaccinations, COVID-19 testing kits and now recognisable signage from the Government’s daily briefings all form part of a new COVID-19 display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries, alongside a timeline of key objects from the history of vaccination and displays about other infectious diseases such as Ebola, polio and the Plague.
On Tuesday 8 December 2020, history was made at Coventry University Hospital as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was used for the first time worldwide as part of a mass immunisation programme. Although small and unassuming, the empty vaccine vial donated by the NHS to the Science Museum Group Collection represents the boundless creativity, ingenuity and sheer hard work of scientists, medical practitioners, technicians and volunteers across the world who have researched, developed, tested and deployed a vaccine in record time.
The public information lectern signs seen by millions during the Government’s daily briefings are one of the most visual items of the pandemic and illustrate how the Government’s plans were communicated to the nation. Several signs – Stay Home > Protect the NHS > Save Lives, Stay Home This Easter, Stay Alert > Control the Virus > Save Lives and Hands Face Space – have joined the Science Museum Group Collection and are included in the new display.
About Art Fund
Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes. In response to Covid-19 Art Fund made £3.6 million in urgent funding available to support museums through reopening and beyond, including Respond and Reimagine grants to help meet immediate need and reimagine future ways of working. A further £2 million has been made available in 2021 for Reimagine projects. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by Art Partners, donors, trusts and foundations and the 130,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year. The winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 is Firstsite in Colchester. www.artfund.org
About Discover South Kensington
Discover South Kensington brings together the Science Museum and other leading cultural and educational organisations to promote innovation and learning. South Kensington is the home of science, arts and inspiration. Discovery is at the core of what happens here and there is so much to explore every day. discoversouthken.com
Partners and supporters for Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries:
About Wellcome
Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation. www.wellcome.ac.uk
About The National Lottery
Since The National Lottery began in 1994, more than £40 billion has been raised for good causes in the areas of arts, sport, heritage and community. Over the last 25 years, the Science Museum has received nearly £34 million of funding from The National Lottery, helping to fund galleries (Making the Modern World, Information Age and Science City 1550 – 1800: The Linbury Gallery), support exhibitions (Wounded: Conflict, Casualties and Care, 2017) and acquire objects (Helen Sharman’s spacesuit). Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries are the latest example of how The National Lottery has helped support science and education, with more than £310 million (£310.6 million) of National Lottery funding having been awarded to science museums across the UK over the past 25 years, to institutions including The National Space Centre in Leicester, Glasgow Science Centre and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre in Cheshire.
About GSK
GSK is a science-led global healthcare company with a special purpose: to help people do more, feel better, live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com/about-us.
About Wolfson
The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity that supports and promotes excellence in the fields of science, health, education and the arts and humanities. Since it was established in 1955, over £900 million (£1.9 billion in real terms) has been awarded to more than 11,000 projects throughout the UK, all on the basis of expert review. Twitter: @wolfsonfdn
About Vitabiotics
Vitabiotics is a British company committed to human health and research which has pioneered advances in nutritional healthcare for nearly 50 years. As the UK’s No.1 vitamin company, Vitabiotics has created a unique portfolio of products at the forefront of scientific developments in key sectors, with no fewer than ten brands in the top 20 VMS brands in the UK, including Pregnacare, Wellman and Wellwoman. Vitabiotics is widely acknowledged as leaders in innovation and in 2018 became the first vitamin company to twice receive the Queen’s Award for Innovation, awarded for its ground breaking original published clinical research. Vitabiotics exports to over 100 countries, and has also received the Queen’s Awards for International Trade on two occasions. Designed to provide maximum efficacy by supporting the human body in its own natural processes, each product is developed using the latest research available and is produced to the highest pharmaceutical standards. www.vitabiotics.com.
