Exhibition
Throes of the Modernist Dream
Prints by Rachel Whiteread, Grayson Perry and Sarah Morris from the Paragon Press.
5 July – 30 August 2025
Academia Militar, digital inkjet print.
2014.
The Paragon Press was founded by Charles Booth-Clibborn in 1986 to encourage upcoming British and Britain-based artists to explore printmaking. Paragon places artists, typically with backgrounds in painting, sculpture, photography or video, with independent printmaking studios across the UK and Europe to experiment with techniques such as etching, lithography, and screen printing. The collaboration leads to the creation of a distinct, print-based project.
Since its beginning, Paragon has published over 120 projects, ranging from single images to extended series, and has collaborated with some of the most significant artists of our time, such as Georg Baselitz, Richard Long and Antony Gormley, to the more recent generation of the ‘Young British Artists’ such as Jake and Dinos Chapman, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume and Marc Quinn.
Aiii, screenprint. 1996.
© Rachel Whiteread and Paragon
| Contemporary Editions Ltd
This exhibition introduces a selection of prints by three renowned contemporary artists and published by Paragon Press: Rachel Whiteread, Sir Grayson Perry and Sarah Morris. The works are connected through their portrayal of modernity and the consequences of the modernist dream. Whiteread’s Demolished commemorates the cycles of urban development and decay, while Perry’s The American Dream drags us into the crises of the global present. Morris’ brightly geometric Department of Power and Water speaks to our synthetic, complex, mechanical world. A small group of sculptures by Whiteread and ephemera from Perry will also be displayed.
Opening Times
5 July – 30 August 2025
Open: Monday to Friday 2 pm – 4 pm; Saturday 2 pm – 6 pm
Closed: Sunday
Information for Visitors
- To access the exhibition, please call in via the Porter’s Lodge on Magdalene Street.
- Entrance will be to the Gallery only.
- Visitors are kindly requested not to enter any other areas of the New Library.
Header image
Grayson Perry: Sponsored by You, colour etching, 2019. © Grayson Perry and Paragon | Contemporary Editions Ltd.