Let's be honest, there can't be too many transvestite potters around.

Now artist Grayson Perry has announced he will bring a top
collection of British art to Preston.

Perry (left) hit the headlines five years ago when he collected the Turner Prize dressed as his alter-ago Claire in a pink party frock.
The Harris Museum and Art Gallery has been chosen as the only north west venue to host an exhibition curated by Perry.

Unpopular Culture features pieces drawn from the Arts Council Collection – the largest loan collection of modern and
contemporary British art in the world.

Lindsay Taylor, exhibition officer at the Harris, said: "There's a real mixture and people may be surprised at what Grayson has selected. He is known for being flamboyant, but a lot of the pieces are understated."

Spanning the 1940s to 1980s, Perry says the quirky collection looks at a time before British art became fashionable. It features 70 works by 50 artists, including snaps of Pearly kings and queens and beauty contests by David Hurn, Tony Ray-Jones and Patrick Ward.

Paintings by Paul Nash, Elinor Bellingham-Smith and Victor Pasmore and bronze casts by Henry Moore and Antony Caro are also featured.

Perry has produced a new bronze sculpture and pot for the show. The potter, who dresses as Claire to create his work, said the artwork he selected gives an alternative view of post-war Britain.

He said: "I felt a need to confront the hackneyed version of the recent past that is the default mode of the nostalgia industry.

"Take the Swinging Sixties – this psychedelic, Mini-driving, mini-skirt wearing, Beatles-loving supposed glory age which I suspect was really only enjoyed by a minority. This exhibition shows another side."

The Unpopular Culture exhibition will be at the Harris from July 19 to September 13.