A Century of the
Artist’s Studio: 1920 – 2020
at the Whitechapel Gallery, London
A Century of the Artist’s Studio: 1920 – 2020
February 24 – June 5, 2022
The Whitechapel Gallery, London
Cy in Ponza © The Twombly Family. Photo by Tatia Franchetti Twombly
From the press release
Whether it be an abandoned factory, an attic or kitchen table, it is the artist’s studio where the great art of our time is conceived and created. In this multi-media exhibition, the wide-ranging possibilities and significance of these crucibles of creativity take center-stage and new art histories around the modern studio emerge through striking juxtapositions of under-recognised artists with celebrated figures in Western art history.
The exhibition brings together more than 100 works by over 80 artists and collectives from Africa, Australasia, South Asia, China, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America. They range from modern icons such as Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele and Andy Warhol, to contemporary figures such as Walead Beshty, Lisa Brice, Cindy Sherman and Kerry James Marshall.
The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, installations and films depicting the studio as work of art, and presents documentation of artists’ studios by world-renowned photographers and filmmakers. A series of ‘studio corners’ also evoke the actual environments where great art has been produced.
Standing as the frontispiece to the exhibition, Louise Bourgeois’ (1911-2010) monumental sculpture, Cell IX (1999), imagines the studio as prison and portal. The exhibition then unfolds according to two central themes: ‘The Public Studio’ examines how artists have embraced the studio as a factory, exhibition space, arena, a collective workspace, or classroom; and ‘The Private Studio’ explores how the studio can be a home, refuge, laboratory, or site of political resistance.
For further information:
The Whitechapel Gallery
whitechapelgallery.org
