Today, the Whitechapel Gallery in London is renowned for its modern and contemporary art exhibitions as well as its art education programs for the local community. However, its origins are less well known. The Whitechapel Fine Art Loan Exhibitions were established by the Reverend Samuel and Henrietta Barnett in 1881. These exhibitions were part of a movement for social reform organized around art and education and intended to develop solutions to class inequality.
Join Pre-Raphaelite Studies Fellow Lucy Hartley to delve deeper into the history of the Whitechapel Fine Art Loan Exhibitions and the power of art to effect social change. Drawing on materials from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection at the Library, Museums and Press and from the Delaware Art Museum, Hartley will explore:
Lucy Hartley is a professor of English at the University of Michigan and the recipient of the 2022 Amy P. Goldman Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite Studies, jointly offered by the UD Library, Museums and Press and the Delaware Art Museum. She has published three books and many articles; and she is currently working on a book about the Whitechapel Exhibitions and another book on poverty in late 19th-century Britain.
This virtual event is free and open to the public.