Major artists create new micro artworks for miniature gallery
Masterpieces in miniature: artists including Sean Scully, Damien Hirst, Magdalene Odundo, and Gillian Wearing create tiny new artworks for the 2021 Model Art Gallery at Pallant House, Chichester

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Thank you for signing up to Wallpaper. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
We all have a fantasy art collection, and it’s often one of two things that stand in the way of realising that fantasy: money, and wall space. There may be a solution to the latter: contemporary art on a doll’s house scale.
Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? Well, they have. In 1934, notable art dealer Sydney Burney saw Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle and a light bulb went off. All for a charitable cause, he asked some of his high-profile contemporaries, including Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens and Vanessa Bell to create miniature artworks to fill a model art gallery, named The Thirty Four Gallery, designed by the architect Marshall Sissons.
Lost for decades, most of the works were rediscovered in a suitcase by Burney’s grandson, and the model was recreated by Pallant House Gallery in 1997, based on photographs. To mark the millennium, the Model Art Gallery 2000 opened its tiny doors, housing work by the likes of Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake, Anthony Caro, Prunella Clough, Antony Gormley, Richard Hamilton and Howard Hodgkin.
Now, another gallery appears to have taken a wrong turn down the rabbit hole. The 2021 Model Art Gallery at Pallant House in Chichester is presenting a microcosm of contemporary British art featuring new works created over the last year by 34 leading artists. There are sculptures by Julian Opie, ceramics by Grayson Perry, and the gallery’s façade features Lothar Götz's electric geometric mural, alongside works by Michael Armitage, Cecily Brown, Michael Craig-Martin, Gary Hume, Magdalene Odundo, and Rachel Whiteread.
Ever thought you’d have to squint for a closer look at a Sean Scully or see a porcelain pot by Edmund de Waal no bigger than a thimble? Elsewhere, there’s an expressive nude by Maggi Hambling that’s around the same dimensions as an iPhone, and a pocket-sized Damien Hirst spin painting. Most surprising of all is that, despite their shrunken state, the works in the Model Art Gallery have no less impact than their larger counterparts.
‘At the height of the first lockdown, artists could not get to their studios, exhibitions were cancelled, and many people spoke of being creatively blocked,’ says Pallant House Gallery director Simon Martin. ‘Inspired by the earlier model galleries, I wrote to some of Britain’s leading contemporary artists to ask whether they might participate in a project to create something positive out of the pandemic. Most of the artists usually work on a large scale and were excited by the challenge of condensing their ideas into a miniature artwork and by being part of such a unique history of modern and contemporary British art.’
INFORMATION
’Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery’, until Spring 2022, Pallant House Gallery. pallant.org.uk
ADDRESS
9 N Pallant
Chichester PO19 1TJ
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Toyota and Jun Takahashi create a limited edition Aygo X
Toyota Aygo X Undercover edition is a city car spliced with a high-end streetwear brand
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Daniel Arsham debuts new work in Paris and New York
Daniel Arsham and Perrotin mark 20 years of collaboration with New York and Paris exhibitions
By Hannah Silver Published
-
2 Lucca Avenue: contemporary luxury meets views of Hong Kong nature
Designed by Conran and Partners, 2 Lucca Avenue at Villa Lucca in Hong Kong, is a modern home wrapped in contemporary luxury
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Turner Prize 2023 exhibition unwrapped: inside Towner Eastbourne
The Turner Prize 2023 exhibition has opened inside the colourful Towner Eastbourne; delve into the work of the four nominees
By Malaika Byng Published
-
Madelon Vriesendorp’s ‘sculptural interventions and playful ideas’ at The Cosmic House
A Madelon Vriesendorp exhibition opens at The Cosmic House in London, surprising and delighting visitors with its ‘sculptural interventions and playful ideas‘
By Will Jennings Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Liverpool Biennial 2023 explores the legacy of slavery
The Liverpool Biennial 2023, ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’, seeks a sense of healing as it explores the legacy of slavery in the city
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
‘A temple of love’: Joana Vasconcelos unveils colossal wedding cake sculpture
At Waddesdon Manor, UK, Joana Vasconcelos unveils her ‘impossible project’ Wedding Cake – part sculpture, part architectural garden folly, part pâtisserie
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
The art fair personality test: what type of Frieze New York visitor are you?
Are you a selfie seeker or a champagne visualist? Take our art fair personality test to identify yourself at Frieze New York 2023 (17-21 May)
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Home, the London art initiative championing BIPOC artists, launches appeal to save the space
Home, one of the few art spaces in London supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic artists, has launched an urgent appeal to stay alive
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
The World Reimagined revisits the history of the transatlantic slave trade through art
Ahead of a Bonhams auction on 21 November, The World Reimagined will conclude with an epic finale in Trafalgar Square this weekend (19 and 20 November). The initiative uses art to illuminate the history of the transatlantic slave trade, inviting us ‘to face our shared history with honesty, empathy and grace’.
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published