Dulwich OnView

by Iain Betterton, Dulwich Picture Gallery shop manager

I must confess not being overly optimistic about generating huge sales from shop merchandise for the Guido Reni’s Saint Sebastian exhibition. I’ve been looking at DPG postcard sales now for close to four years and let’s just say sales of the St Sebastian image were not breaking any records. St Seb is no Girl at a Window leaning enigmatically and engagingly towards the viewer; rather he is twisted away in a private torment, eliciting a measure of sympathy perhaps but clearly not greatly concerned about his postcard appeal (which I think is entirely understandable given his predicament).

Overtly religious pictures are not to everyone’s taste, and when there’s pain and suffering involved, even less so. So, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across a company from California who specialise in all that’s most irreverent in the world of cultural merchandising. I had dealt with The Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild in a previous role, purchasing several of their products for a gift catalogue, namely pairs of Freudian Slippers (you’ve guessed it, regular comfy slippers in the shape of Freud’s grey-haired, bespectacled head) and a giggling Mona Lisa cushion (which chuckles hysterically every time you lean on her). I imagine working for the Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild is pretty good fun, involving lounging around all day devising cheeky, close-to-the-bone products with some kind of visual or not-so-intellectual pun attached. The more ridiculous, cheesy or distasteful even, the better the idea.

All very silly (and not very Dulwich) I was thinking, until leafing through their brochure an irresistible product emerged demanding my attention. So I thought the Reni exhibition may be a little on the dull side for merchandising did I? Well, not any more! Now it was going to be the talk of the Gallery (or the mess room at least) What had been revealed to me, as if by divine providence, was the Saint Sebastian pincushion, so awfully relevant to the show, so irresistibly kitsch and quirky, so likely to offend and delight in equal measure - we simply had to ship some over. As befits such a bizarre and outrageously-conceived product, the actual pincushion itself was a mixture of gaudy colours (a neon-pink base), cringe-worthy detail (fabric blood spurts coming out of the pin holes) and sheer oddness (Saint Sebastian was a dead ringer for Ian Botham, complete with blonde mullet and moustache!)

As I had feared, there were several complaints about the product which was, as I had hoped, enormously popular (more are on their way as I write, but keep it quiet). Which is all food for thought, and product development… what about Girl at a Window curtain sets, or Goliath’s Head-on-a-Stick Lollipops? Oh to be an unemployed philosopher!

Ed. Behind the Scenes at a Hanging - a great article and fantastic set of shots of the arrival of the paintings for the ‘Guido Reni’s St. Sebastians’ exhibition