The Museum of Everything

The Museum of Everything, I learned this morning, is a highly diverting way of passing a couple of hours, even if you do have to spend time in Primrose Hill village as a side effect. 

Exhibition #3 is a collaboration with the veteran artist and collector, Sir Peter Blake, the man best known for creating the album cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Blake's wide-ranging interests include self-taught art and discovered artefacts, and there is a lot of work here, from collections of shells to circus posters. The downstairs of warehouse-style gallery space is divided into intimate rooms whose walls are covered from floor to ceiling in art. Turn one corner and you encounter a tiny room full of dolls, turn the next and you're presented with dozens of black and white photographs of midgets and bearded ladies. 

 

Upstairs holds Walter Potter's Museum of Curiosity, an extraordinary collection of stuffed creatures created by the Victorian taxidermist. Two-headed lambs, three-legged geese and miniature dogs are displayed alongside elaborate scenes involving squirrels, rabbits and even toads (not easy to stuff, we are told). It's bizarre, but somehow joyful to see.

Despite the swanky location and the smugness of some of the staff, this art is totally accessible. The wall notes, some written by Blake himself and some by the artists whose work is featured, are informal yet educative. Blake's passion for the work he collects comes across clearly, without the ego one might expect from someone of his standing. This exhibition is a chance to share in the objects he loves. Don't let it pass you by.

The Museum of Everything runs from 13 October to 25 December and is located at the corner of Regents Park Road and Sharpleshall Street, London, NW1.