Istanbul Day 9: the Pera Museum and Grayson Perry's "Small Differences"

Today, we crossed the Golden Horn to visit the Pera Museum.  I was really excited because they were showing an exhibition of Grayson Perry's work, and he is one of my favourite artists.  I was rather surprised in one sense because his art can be very graphic and confronting, and he is a cross-dresser, but then, upon reflection, a lot of his themes are relevant to Turkey today too.  Plus, his humour and social commentary are appealing.

The "Small Differences displayed some of his ceramic work, mostly his large vases, but there was also this Islamic depiction of his teddy bear, Alan Measles, called "Wise Alan".

Included in the exhibition were some of his works on paper.  I like the idea of his mind maps.  This etching is called "Map of an Englishman" and is as amusing as a lot of his other works.

 

A larger etching is called "Print for a Politician" and looks at the battles between factions.  Bob and I felt that there wasn't enough correlation between the illustrations and the words, but his illustrations were incredible.

The main pieces of work on display were the six large tapestries, "The Vanity of Small Differences", which I had previously seen in his documentary on television, "All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry".  They are inspired by William Hogarth's "A Rake's Progress" and the exhibition had plates from Hogarth's etchings on display too.

Perry's  character is called Tim Bakewell and the story follows his development from birth to death. I am only displaying small images from each of these large tapestries in this blog.  The first in the series is the"The Adoration of the Cage Fighters" and depicts Tim as a baby with his working class mother:

The second is "The Agony in the Car Park" depicts Tim's stepfather and Tim's growing embarrasment at his family:

"Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close" depicts  Tim moving away from his parents and into the middle classes.

In "The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal", Tim is now very wealthy and in his second home, surrounded by his new family.

By "The Upper Class at Bay", Tim realises that however much new money he makes, he will never become part of the upper class, in spite of the landed elite gradually dying out.

The last tapestry, "Lamentation", shows Tim, dead from a car accident and in the arms of a stranger, while his second wife looks on.

The exhibition also includes his sketchbooks, which are very interesting.

Two tapestries that Turkey allowed to be displayed in spite of them being fairly provocative in a religious sense are the "Map of Truths and Beliefs"

and  "Vote Alan Measles for God"

The Walthamstow Tapestry on the other hand could have been rejected for other reasons.

Turkey is to be commended for showing these pieces and recognising their importance as works of art with a social commentary.

The Pera Museum also had an amazingly good exhibition of Cecil Beaton photographic portraits which we enjoyed  very much, and a display of Anatolian Weights and Measures, an exhibition of "Ambassadors and Painters"  and an examination of coffee in Kutahya tiles and ceramics.

After the exhibition, we descended Istiklal street with its nostalgic tram occasionally running through the crowds of people to the Golden Horn.  

 

 On our way down, we passed the child beggars which are the exception to the general regard for children shown in Turkey.  Apparently many of the beggars are Syrian refugees who reject the government support system, and others are used by poorer Turks as money making tools.   Some, and I did not see any of these, are reputedly deliberately maimed to raise more pity.  It upset me to see some of these children looking dirty and wild and uncared for.  Some of the little ones are so limp that I suspect they are drugged.  I can see why the Turks are disturbed by this phenomena and why some of these children have been removed from their parents.  I know that I am only seeing the surface of the problem, but I hope that less children will be forced to beg in the future, and less adults will feel the need to use children this way.