Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery

Tue 14 May - Sun 22 September 2024

[ Exhibition )

A large dollhouse sized art gallery, designed to imitate the exterior of an 18th century townhouse. The left hand side is painted with a brightly coloured geometric mural. The right side shows a cross section of four rooms (one in the attic, two on the first floor, and one on the ground floor), each filled with works of modern art.

More than 80 original – but miniature – works of art in three model art galleries.

With work by artists from Augustus John, Vanessa Bell, Paul Nash, Sir Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton to new pieces by Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, John Akomfrah, Tacita Dean and Lubaina Himid, the galleries are a time capsule of 80 years of British art.

In 2020, we asked Wright & Wright architects to design a model art gallery to house original miniature artworks from over 30 of the most exciting contemporary British artists, including John Akomfrah, Tacita Dean, Lubaina Himid, Damien Hirst, Magdalene Odundo, and Gillian Wearing. These works were created during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown – a time when artists could not get to their studios, exhibitions were cancelled, and many people spoke of being creatively blocked.

Make your way around the building and discover these three miniature galleries. The 2021 Model Art Gallery is currently on display in Room 9, the Thirty Four Gallery can be found in Room 5 and the Model Gallery 2000 is in Room 11. Together, the galleries tell the story of Modern British art from the 1930s until today.

These models provided a fascinating insight into the evolution of styles and influences across the decades and show how different generations of artists approached the unique challenges of working in miniature.

The 2021 Model Art Gallery

A microcosm of British art today featuring new works created in 2020 by 34 contemporary artists.

The 2021 gallery featured sculpture by Julian Opie, ceramics by Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal, photographs by Gillian Wearing, paintings by Damien Hirst, Maggi Hambling and Tacita Dean and an installation by John Akomfrah – all ranging from the size of a pound coin to no larger than 20cm. The Gallery also featured a miniature print from Khadija Saye’s ‘Crowned’ series, the only work from the series not destroyed in the Grenfell Tower fire which took her life.

The 2021 Model Art Gallery was designed by Wright & Wright architects who are working with Pallant House Gallery on proposals for a new Collections Centre, and recently redesigned the new Museum of the Home in Hackney.

Download Large Print Labels

Watch the film “The Making of the 2021 Model Art Gallery”

A large dollhouse sized art gallery, designed to imitate the exterior of an 18th century townhouse. The front shows a cross section of fiverooms (one in the attic, two on the first floor, and two on the ground floor), each filled with works of modern art.

Three works of art in a gallery with white walls and wooden flooring. On the back wall to the left is a painting on a round canvas decorated with splotches of paint applied when the canvas was spinning to create an explosive effect. On the right is work showing a lilac land mass sunk in relief in a white canvas. In front of both is an abstract sculpture of white abstract blocks balanced on wooden stands.

Three works of art in a gallery with white walls and wooden flooring. On the left hand wall is a painting of a baroque clock with an ornate frame. On the right hand wall is an abstract painting in tones of blue, green and white. On a plinth in front of them is a ceramic bottle vase with a picture of the artist Grayson Perry with gold writing.

Four works of art in a gallery with white walls and wooden flooring. On the left wall is a close up portrait of a woman's face painted in grey and blue tones. On the back wall in the centre is a painting of a woman's bare back. On the right wall is a photograph of the back of a woman's head, showing her intricate braided hair. On a plinth towards the left side is a ceramic pot, edged with gold.

I Was Small – Adventures in a Model Gallery

The 2021 Model Art Gallery was a space that invited careful looking as well as imaginative leaps into impossible worlds.

Artist Dan Scott wanted to create a listening experience that played with these shifts in scale and modes of engaging. This sound piece allows listeners to enter the Model Art Gallery and to experience the artworks as landscapes or dream-spaces from the perspective of the apparently giant viewer, and as also from the miniature gallery visitor.

You can listen to the experience via our digital guide to the Gallery on Bloomberg Connects or you can find it on our youtube channel.

The Thirty Four Gallery

The original model art gallery.

The earliest model gallery in Pallant House Gallery’s collection, The Thirty Four Gallery, was inspired by the 1924 Queen Mary’s Doll’s House at Windsor Castle. It was created in 1934, when art dealer Sydney Burney asked some of his most notable contemporaries, including Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens and Vanessa Bell to create miniature artworks to fill a dolls house in support of charity.

Lost for decades, some of the works were rediscovered in a suitcase by Burney’s grandson. The model was recreated by Pallant House Gallery in 1997 based on photographs of the original designed by the architect Marshall Sissons.

Download Large Print Labels

A model art gallery with white walls and a wooden flooring, filled with miniature paintings, sculptures and a bench.

Seven works of art in a gallery with white walls and wooden flooring. One painting is on the left hand wall and four (depicting a landscape, a portrait of a woman, a grouse and an abstract painting of flowers) are on the back wall. In the foreground are two sculptures; the one on the left is an abstracted sculpture of a seabird rising from water and the other is a human figure, juggling. To the right of that sculpture is a wooden bench.

Five works of art in a gallery with white walls and wooden flooring. On the left side is a sculpture of three oval forms stacked on top of each other. On the back wall are three paintings of abstracted still lifes and still lifes. In the foreground is a Henry Moore sculpture of an abstracted reclining human figure.

The Thirty-Four Gallery, Pallant House Gallery. Photograph Rob Harris

A microcosm of art

The Thirty Four Gallery captures a moment of tremendous change and innovation in British art history – find out why 1934 was a remarkable year in art, and how The Thirty Four Gallery captured the zeitgeist.

The Model Gallery 2000

A new model for a new millenium.

Taking inspiration from The Thirty Four Gallery, to mark the millennium Pallant House Gallery commissioned a new Model Gallery.

The 2000 Model Art Gallery works are housed in a replica of the Gallery’s contemporary wing, designed by Long & Kentish in association with Colin St John Wilson. It showcases the work of 18 celebrated artists of the late 20th century who are all represented in the collection of British Pop and figurative art that Wilson donated to Pallant House Gallery, including Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake, Anthony Caro, Prunella Clough, Antony Gormley, Richard Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, R.B. Kitaj, Dhruva Mistry, and Eduardo Paolozzi.

Download Large Print Labels

A model art gallery consisting of three rooms with white walls and wooden and stone-look flooring. In each room of paintings and sculptures.

A model art gallery room with white walls, a dropped ceiling and wooden and stone look flooring. On the left hand wall is a painting of eight panels divided into triangles and painted in red, orange, yellow, green and blue. On the central wall is a painting of a silhouette of a man in a flat cap. On the right hand wall is a painting of people peering over their shoulders at each others canvases. In the centre right is a plinth with a mint green glass cube.

A model art gallery consisting of one room with white walls and wooden and stone-look flooring and filled with paintings and sculptures.

A model art gallery room with white walls, a dropped ceiling and wooden and stone look flooring. On the left hand wall is a painting with nine boxes containing different words, images and symbols and with thhree flames coming out the top of it. In the centre is a painting of a red pipe against a pink background. To the right of that is an abstract painting with a two tone grey background and blocks of red and black. In the foreground and to the left is a red metal abstract sculpture.

Create your own model art gallery at home

Make your own gallery with our guide on how to make one from a shoebox and fill it with your own creations!

Download the pdf