Art for all and a golden tree
When the Whitechapel Gallery opened in 1901, its founders’ aim was to make culture, especially contemporary art, accessible to the poor of the East End. The façade of the gallery expressed this spirit of innovation and idealism thanks to its unusual asymmetrical design with Art Nouveau influence by Charles Harrison Townsend. The mosaic frieze that was planned for the recess between the two towers was never carried out, but the motif of the Tree of Life on terracotta panels on the lower parts of the towers symbolised growth, learning and renewal.
Since its early days, the gallery has taken a pioneering role. In 1938 it exhibited Picasso’s »Guernica« in response to a nascent fascist movement that deliberately provoked the many Jewish and leftwing inhabitants of Whitechapel. In 1956 the exhibition »This Is Tomorrow« was the first in England to show Pop Art. Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Frida Kahlo were first presented to the London art scene in this gallery, which also promoted British artists such as Gilbert & George. A well-known contemporary artist who has lived near Whitechapel Gallery for 25 years, Rachel Whiteread, has now remodelled its façade.
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Address 77–82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX | Public Transport Aldgate East (District, Hammersmith & City Line) | Hours Tue, Wed, Fri–Sun 11am–6pm, Thu 11am–9pm| Tip Over 150 galleries and museums in East London open until 9pm on the first Thursday of the month. Most of the exhibitions, performances, concerts and guided tours are free (www.firstthursdays.co.uk).
Much of Whiteread’s work involves making casts of large and small objects, thus creating modern sculptures with historical references. She first came to prominence in 1993 with a full-size cast of the interior of a complete house in the East End. For the Whitechapel Gallery, she placed four casts of the existing windows between the towers, and added golden decoration derived from the terracotta Trees of Life: bronze replicas of their branches and leaves scattered across the recess and the towers. Whiteread thus refers to the history of the gallery, which was reopened in 2009 with twice as much exhibition space as before and continues to fulfil its original purpose of bringing art to east London.
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