The donation part of the Archive consists of various documents, related to the history of the Whitechapel Gallery and donated by private persons. It is not big, about 30 collections in total, but very important. Its diversity in the sense of formats and periods covered reflects the diversity of the Whitechapel activity.
The most important donation is no doubt the manuscript autobiography of Clare Winsten, covering the period from the early 1910s to the 1970s. Clare Winsten was an artist and an active participant in the art life around the gallery at the beginning of the twentieth century. She can be considered to be a part of the so-called ‘Whitechapel boys’ circle, despite her gender. The other ‘girl’ among the ‘Whitechapel boys’ was Clara Klinghoffer, and the letter related to her artistic activity can be seen in the Exhibition Files section.
From the very first years of the gallery’s existence, we have donated a Scrapbook full of letters and postcards covering the period from 1890 to 1897, especially the Whitechapel exhibition of 1894.
Two established photographers and visual artists, Alfred White and Boyd Webb, have donated to the gallery’s collection of photographs. Just a dozen photographs by Alfred White, related to the exhibitions of the mid-1950s, are almost iconic images. Boyd Webb’s exhibitions took place at the Whitechapel in 1978 and 1987. His donation is more than one hundred negatives, all taken at the Whitechapel Gallery between 1978 and 1984.
Betty Blandino’s donation consists of letters, reports, and photographs referring to the LCC programming of the Upper Gallery and her interview (in recording) also reflects the history of the Whitechapel in the 1950s and 1960s.
Other artists donated to the archive of their research. The big collection of Goshka Macuga, whose artistic practices are based on historical and archival research. Richard Hollis’s donation is related to his role as a graphic designer for the Whitechapel in 1978-1985. His work was crucial for establishing a distinctive visual brand for the gallery. The best examples of his designs can be seen in the Poster section and the Catalogues section of the ‘Highlights’.
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You can see the Catalogue of the Archive Holdings HERE .
