Giants of the art world with Sainsbury Centre at the UEA

Giants of the art world

Village People showcases art exhibitions and much more at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia

Bill Brandt | Henry Moore: Closes 22 August 2021

This major exhibition traces the parallel and intersecting careers of two leading artists of the 20th century. The photographer Bill Brandt (1904–1983) and sculptor Henry Moore (1898–1986) first crossed paths during WWII, when they created images of civilians sheltering in the London Underground during the Blitz. These photographs by Brandt and drawings by Moore today rank among their most iconic works, and bring together almost 200 pieces including significant sculpture, iconic photographs and drawings, little-known photo collages and rare original colour transparencies. Bill Brandt | Henry Moore reveals the interdisciplinary range of these two artists, exploring how they both responded creatively to the British landscape and communities during the turbulent times in which they lived.

Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years: 19 September 2021 –30 January 2022

The Sainsbury Centre presents a new exhibition that surveys for the first time Grayson Perry’s earliest forays into the art world, re-introducing the explosive and creative works made during his formative years between 1982 and 1994. His ground-breaking pots of this period have been reunited for the first time following a hugely successful appeal to the public in 2018 by Perry and The Holburne Museum in Bath, where this exhibition first opened in January 2020. Grayson says: “This show has been such a joy to put together and to see these early works again, many of which I have not seen since the 80s. It is as near as I will ever get to meeting myself as a young man, an angrier, priapic me with huge energy but a much smaller wardrobe.”

There’s more to explore at the Sainsbury Centre

Why not take a leisurely walk around the Sculpture Park at the Sainsbury Centre, which sits in 350 acres of parkland with a lake? The number of works on display is growing all the time, and this year Leiko Ikemura's Usagi Kannon sculpture (2012/19) will be installed. Inside the Sainsbury Centre itself, you can see the remarkable Sainsbury Art Collection for free, and park free too. There is a beautiful new café and terrace, where you can sit outside and enjoy the beautiful view with coffee and cake. But if you can’t get to the Centre, there are plenty of things for children and adults to do and learn on the website, sainsburycentre.ac.uk.

Grayson Perry: Cocktail Party, 1989

For more information, go to sainsburycentre.ac.uk or call 01603 593199.