Exhibition Identity / Spatial Storytelling / Campaign System
The Plumstead Hoard
500 Years of Curious Collecting
Overview
A selling exhibition proposal developed for the Navigating the Art World unit at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Casting the fictional London auction house Southwesterly’s (est. 1885), it represents a portion of the Plumstead family collection — twenty-eight objects plus two loans — across the family’s four collecting categories: Old Masters Paintings, Modern Paintings, Decorative Arts, and Design, on view 2–30 June 2023.
The brief asked for a complete proposal: a draft press release, a business plan with operating budget and marketing strategy, an installation plan, and an illustrated list of works. The collection was valued at a £4.6m hammer price (£6.6m retail), with a projected 90% sell-through.
- Context
- Sotheby’s Institute of Art — Navigating the Art World
- Format
- Selling exhibition proposal
- Auction house (proposed)
- Southwesterly’s, est. 1885 — London
- On view
- 2 — 30 June 2023
- Works
- 28 objects + 2 loans
- Categories
- Old Masters, Modern Paintings, Decorative Arts, Design
Auction-house monogram & family crest
The interlocking “WS” monogram for Southwesterly’s and the Plumstead “PH” heraldic crest.
Sampled palette
Concept / Research
The Plumstead collection — in the care of Peggy and Leonard Plumstead and built over three generations — is defined by its eclecticism. The proposal answers that with an unconventional, cross-thematic hang that juxtaposes works across periods and cultures, echoing how the collection lived in the Plumstead home. Matte-black walls and warm light carry a deliberately domestic atmosphere across two linked rooms.
Anchor works include a rare Italian pietra dura table, Maximilian Luce’s Le quai Conti, René Magritte’s The Helmeted Sausage, and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Allegory of Fame — the last shown beside a loan of Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (Royal Collection Trust), with Seurat’s Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp on loan from Tate Modern.
“Much like how the collection has been displayed in the Plumstead home, the cross-thematic display will allow visitors to have a new appreciation for the works through contrast and comparison.”
From the draft press release.
Exhibition Design
A cross-thematic installation across two rooms joined for a circular path of egress. Decorative arts and furniture sit on varied-height plinths; delicate pieces in vitrines; most paintings hung, with Magritte’s The Helmeted Sausage in a vitrine to reveal the inscriptions on the back of its frame. Object labels carry QR codes — twenty-eight objects plus two loans, thirty in total.
Gallery Walkthrough
Spatial walkthrough of the two-room installation — concept visualization.
Section animations
Modern Decorative Arts — section animation
Architecture / Design — section animation
Visual Identity / Branding
The identity mirrors the collection’s diversity: rich jewel tones of gold, oxblood, and lapis, collage-led key art that layers the works against the pietra dura table, and a type system pairing a traditional serif with a modern sans. The Southwesterly’s “WS” monogram and the Plumstead “PH” crest anchor every touchpoint.
Catalogue / Banner / Signage System
A printed exhibition catalogue, exhibition title and wall-text decals, and roller banners — one inside at reception and two outdoors flanking the entrance — extend the identity across the visitor journey. Outdoor banners co-brand with Veuve Clicquot, the proposed events sponsor.
Marketing / Social Campaign
A staged campaign: a press release to ARTnews, The Art Newspaper, and Artsy News; a website feature and newsletter; a promotional film by Ceres Productions; and an Instagram and Facebook programme of sponsored and unsponsored teasers, building toward private (1 June) and public (2 June) previews with Veuve Clicquot as sponsor. The proposed audience runs from early to established collectors aged 35–80, with wealthy baby-boomers as the key demographic for the highest-value works.
Social teaser
Instagram / Facebook teaser.
What this project demonstrates
- Research-led concept development
- Exhibition identity and visual system
- Spatial storytelling and installation planning
- Catalogue, banner, and signage design
- Marketing, advertising, and events strategy
- Motion and digital presentation
The flagship of the writing & research discipline: a single brief carried from archival research through to a coherent identity, a buildable spatial plan, and a launch campaign.
Concept / proposal visualization — not documentation of a built exhibition. Academic project, Sotheby’s Institute of Art.