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Whitechapel Art Gallery was founded in 1901 to bring great art to the people of East London. The Gallery is internationally acclaimed for its exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and its pioneering education and public events programmes. ‘The Whitechapel taught Britain to love Modern Art.’ The Guardian
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History
The Whitechapel has premiered international artists such as Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Nan Goldin, and provided a showcase for Britain’s most significant artists from Gilbert & George to Lucian Freud, Peter Doig to Mark Wallinger. The Gallery plays a unique role in London's cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of East London as one of the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarters.
The Whitechapel’s history is a history of firsts:
1939 - Guernica, Picasso’s iconic depiction of the horrors of the Spanish civil war, is displayed at the Whitechapel on its first and only visit to Britain
1956 - This is Tomorrow exhibit
1958 - The first major show in Britain of seminal American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock
1961 - British premiere of Mark Rothko.The installation of his work at the Whitechapel becomes his template for all subsequent shows
1970 and 1971 - First shows of British artists David Hockney, Gilbert & George and Richard Long
1982 - The Whitechapel introduces little-known Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo to London audiences
1993 - The Whitechapel showcases Lucien Freud, one of Britain’s greatest living figurative painters
2001 and 2002 - Liam Gillick and Nan Goldin stage their first major solo shows in the UK
The Whitechapel has also curated groundbreaking group exhibitions, ranging from the proto-pop art show "This is Tomorrow" of 1956 to the revisioning of modernism in the 2004 blockbuster, "Faces in the Crowd".
On 13 February 2008 a new exhibition by Cornelia Parker opened at the Whitechapel, organised in partnership with Friends of the Earth [1]. Parker’s latest work is a 40 minute film - Chomskian Abstract, 2007 - presenting her interview with the world-renowned writer and theorist Noam Chomsky [2]. By answering Parker’s questions, Chomsky addresses the failings of government, corporations, institutions and the media to take responsibility for the ecological safety of our planet. He urges us to take responsibility, change our lifestyles and bring about socio-economic change.
In addition to Chomskian Abstract, 2007, Parker’s Poison and Antidote Drawings, 2004 [3] are on show, featuring black ink containing snake venom and white ink containing anti-venom. The format of the drawings reflects the question and answer format of the interview with Chomsky. The exhibition ended 30 March 2008.
Education
Since 1901 art has been presented alongside education. A not-for-profit educational charity, the Whitechapel has pioneered artists’ residencies in schools and other education innovations that have been adopted as models across the UK and internationally.
Expansion
The Whitechapel is currently in the process of an ambitious £10.5 million expansion. By incorporating the former library building, the Gallery will double in size.
The Whitechapel Project will also:
- Ensure the Whitechapel’s international reputation as a world-class centre of excellence for contemporary and modern art by increasing gallery space by 78%
- Offer artists greater opportunities for professional development, research, exhibiting and making new work.
- Provide a platform for important private and public collections
- Offer more opportunities for learning by trebling training and education space
- Celebrate art’s hidden histories by animating the Gallery’s historically important archive
- Bring light and life to East London through the year-round opening of a landmark cultural destination
- Create prosperity in the local community by attracting more visitors each year
Directors
- Charles Aitken (1901-1911)
- Bryan Robertson (1952–1968)
- Nicholas Serota (1976–1988)
- Catherine Lampert (1988–2002)
- Iwona Blazwick (2002– )
Transport
The nearest tube station is Aldgate East.
External links
- Whitechapel Gallery Gallery website
- Greg Whitfield, Review of Janet Cardiff, George Bures Miller and Philip DiCorcia show at Whitechapel Art Gallery (June–August 2003), 3:am Magazine. Includes a good photograph of the Gallery interior.
