Staging Jackson Pollock


Interesting exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery examining the Jackson Pollock exhibition at the gallery in 1958.

The show made good use of archive material to look back at this ground breaking exhibition which was the first to show Pollock’s work in the UK and provoked bewilderment and excitement. The show was designed by architect Trevor Dannatt who transformed the gallery into a white cube and used breezeblock walls to divide up the space and give additional hanging space.

The catalyst for the show was the loan of “Summertime: Number 9A” to the gallery which had appeared sixty years ago in the original show. It was shown in a space which tried to recreate the gallery by showing it next to a full sized picture of the show with the picture in it at right angles to the picture and a reworking of the way draped material was used to transform the ceiling of the gallery.

Closes 24 March 2018


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