Tigers have long held a prominent place in art history, symbolizing power, majesty, and mystery across various cultures and artistic movements.

In ancient China, tigers were revered as guardians against evil spirits. Artworks from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.1050–771 BCE) include bronze and jade tiger figurines, often buried with the dead to offer protection in the afterlife.

During the Edo period in Japan, artists like Nagasawa Rosetsu created masterpieces such as the “Tiger Fusuma” (1786), a series of sliding door panels depicting tigers with both ferocity and anthropomorphic charm. These works reflect a blend of Chinese influence and Japanese aesthetics.

In medieval Europe, tigers appeared in bestiaries, often illustrated in imaginative colors due to limited firsthand knowledge. A notable example is a 13th-century English manuscript where a tiger is depicted in light blue, showcasing the artist’s creative interpretation.

The Baroque period saw dramatic portrayals of tigers, as in Peter Paul Rubens’ “The Tiger Hunt” (1615–1616), which captures the intense struggle between man and beast, reflecting themes of power and dominance.

In the 19th century, Henri Rousseau’s “Tiger in a Tropical Storm” (1891) presented a more fantastical and dreamlike vision, aligning with the Symbolist movement’s emphasis on imagination and emotion.

Tigers also held symbolic significance in South Asia. Tipu Sultan of Mysore adopted the tiger as his emblem, commissioning artworks like “Tipu’s Tiger,” an automaton depicting a tiger mauling a British soldier, symbolizing resistance against colonial forces.

Across these diverse contexts, the tiger has remained a potent symbol in art, embodying themes ranging from protection and power to exoticism and resistance.

David Shrigley’s quick-witted drawings and hand-rendered text are typically deadpan in their humor, revealing random utterances like snippets of overheard conversations. Recurring themes and thoughts run through his narratives, capturing childlike views of the world, the perspective of aliens and monsters, or the compulsive habits of a loud-screaming eavesdropper. While drawing is central to his practice, Shrigley also works in a wide range of media, including sculpture, large-scale installation, animation, painting, photography, and music. Shrigley is always looking to expand his audience by operating outside the gallery sphere, including through the production of artist publications and collaborative music projects.