The Whitworth
{{Short description|Art gallery in Manchester, England}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = The Whitworth
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| image = Whitworth Gallery.JPG
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| former_name = The Whitworth Institute and Park
| established = 1889
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| location = Manchester, England
| coordinates = {{coord|53.460278|-2.229444|display=inline,title}}
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| founder = Robert Darbishire
| director = Sook-Kyung Lee
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| owner = University of Manchester
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| website = [https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/ whitworth.manchester.ac.uk]
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{{Designation list
| embed = yes
| designation1 = Grade II Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Whitworth Gallery
| designation1_date = 2 October 1974
| designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1246569|short=y|postscript=none}}
}}
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The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing over 60,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester.
In 2015, the Whitworth reopened after it was transformed by a £15 million capital redevelopment that doubled its exhibition spaces, restored period features and opened itself up to its surrounding park. The gallery received more than 440,000 visitors in its first year and was awarded the Art Fund's Museum of the Year prize in 2015.{{cite web |url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/museums/157652/ |title=Whitworth named UK museum of the year |last=Pes |first=Javier |date=2 July 2015 |website=theartnewspaper.com |publisher=The Art Newspaper |access-date=5 July 2015}}
History
The gallery was founded in 1889 by Robert Dukinfield Darbishire with a donation from Sir Joseph Whitworth, as "The Whitworth Institute and Park". The first building was completed in 1908.{{citation |author=Edward Morris |title=Public Art Collections in North-West England: A History and Guide |isbn=0-85323-527-9 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |year=2001}} In 1958, the gallery became part of the Victoria University of Manchester.{{cite web |url=https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/about/aboutthewhitworth/history/ |title=History |author= |website=whitworth.manchester.ac.uk |publisher=The Whitworth |access-date=2 December 2023}}
In October 1974, the gallery became a Grade II listed building.{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1246569 |title=Whitworth Gallery |author= |website=historicengland.org.uk |publisher=Historic England |access-date=2 December 2023}}
In October 1995, the mezzanine court in the centre of the building was opened. The new gallery, designed chiefly for the display of sculpture, won a RIBA regional award.{{cite web |url=http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/press/awmanchester_phpOI2q4e.doc |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080522173915/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/press/awmanchester_phpOI2q4e.doc |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 May 2008 |title=Launch of Architecture Week North West: 16–25 June |date=1 June 2006 |access-date=18 June 2008 |publisher=Arts Council / Architecture Week |format=doc}} In 2010, the art gallery received
172,000 visitors, making it one of Greater Manchester's 10 most-visited tourist attractions.{{cite news |last=Brooks-Pollock |first=Tom |date=30 November 2011 |title=Lowry gallery and theatre is most popular tourist attraction in Greater Manchester |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/lowry-gallery-and-theatre-is-most-popular-877076 |work=Manchester Evening News |access-date=2 December 2023}}
In February 2015, the Whitworth reopened after a £15 million capital redevelopment and received over 440,000 visitors in its first reopening year. It was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize{{cite news |author= |date=7 October 2015 |title=Riba Stirling Prize 2015: The Whitworth, University of Manchester |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34401613 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 August 2023}} and won the Art Fund's Museum of the Year in 2015.
=2003 theft=
On 26 April 2003, three paintings thought to be worth a total of £4 million — Van Gogh's The Fortification of Paris with Houses, Picasso's Poverty and Gauguin's Tahitian Landscape — were stolen from the gallery.{{cite news |author= |date=28 April 2003 |title=Art masterpieces stolen in raid |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/2980319.stm |work=BBC News |location=Manchester |access-date=10 March 2008}}{{cite video |people=Judith Moritz |date=28 April 2003 |title=BBC News 24 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39147000/rm/_39147145_art19_moritz_vi.ram |format=ram |publisher=BBC News |access-date=10 March 2008}} After an anonymous tip-off, they were found rolled up in a nearby public toilet with a note claiming that the motive of the theft was to highlight poor security at the gallery. The paintings were subsequently put back on display after minor repair work.{{cite news |author= |date=28 April 2003 |title=Stolen paintings can be repaired |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/2981145.stm |work=BBC News |location=Manchester |access-date=10 March 2008}}
Architecture
The Grade II listed gallery was built between 1895 and 1900 in a free Jacobean style to the designs of J.W. Beaumont. The gallery consisting of two storeys and a basement is constructed of red brick with bands and dressings of matching terracotta and has green slate roofs. Its nine-bay main range has two towers and a large projecting semi-circular porch with a screen of paired stone Ionic columns and a stone frieze below a balustraded parapet.
=Refurbishment and extension=
File:Whitworth Gallery extension (16967657572).jpg
An architectural competition was launched by RIBA Competitions to design an extension in 2008 and funding was secured in February 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/The-Whitworth-Art-Gallerys-new-designs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607070600/http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/The-Whitworth-Art-Gallerys-new-designs |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 June 2012 |title=The Whitworth Art Gallery's new designs |author= |date=1 October 2009 |website=manchesterconfidential.co.uk |publisher=Manchester Confidential |access-date=14 November 2012}}{{cite news |author= |date=18 February 2011 |title=Whitworth Art Gallery gets £8m to double public space |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12505500 |work=BBC News |location=Manchester |access-date=14 November 2012}} In September 2013, the gallery closed for refurbishment and extension works.{{cite news |last=Bainbridge |first=Pete |date=4 September 2013 |title=Whitworth Art Gallery closes doors for year-long £15m revamp |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/pictured-whitworth-art-gallery-closes-5837286 |work=Manchester Evening News |access-date=12 January 2015}} The £15 million redevelopment was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the University of Manchester. The refurbishment works, undertaken by architects MUMA envisaged the gallery reopening to the public by summer 2014, but complications delayed the opening.{{cite news |last=Walters |first=Sarah |date=16 September 2014 |title=Whitworth Gallery confirms February reopening following delays with the ambitious redesign |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/whitworth-gallery-confirms-february-reopening-7780013 |work=Manchester Evening News |access-date=12 January 2015}}
The development includes expanded gallery areas, a learning studio, study centre, an art garden and café. Developers have constructed a glass, stainless steel and brick extension consisting of two wings which extend into Whitworth Park from the back of the gallery building. The wings are connected by a glass promenade. The extension means the gallery is a third larger than previously.
The extension, which opened on 14 February 2015, doubled the gallery's public space. It provides more space for displaying the more than 60,000 items in the gallery's collection and links the building to Whitworth Park.{{cite web |url=http://www.artsindustry.co.uk/features/the-tales-of-one-city/111 |title=The Tales of One City |author= |date=17 June 2011 |website=artsindustry.co.uk |publisher=Arts Industry |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108005329/http://www.artsindustry.co.uk/features/the-tales-of-one-city/111 |archive-date=8 January 2016}}
The refurbishment and extension work resulted in the development winning a RIBA National Award in 2015 and subsequently being shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize.{{cite news |author= |date=16 July 2015 |title=Whitworth gallery extension up for Stirling architecture prize |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33534112 |work=BBC News |location=Manchester |access-date=13 October 2015}}
Collections
The Whitworth has notable collections of watercolours, sculptures, wallpapers and textiles. It includes major historic works by Thomas Gainsborough,{{cite web |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/young-gainsborough-rediscovered-landscape-drawings/nottingham-castle |title=Young Gainsborough: Rediscovered Landscape Drawings |author= |website=rct.uk |publisher=Royal Collection Trust |access-date=1 August 2023}} Alexander{{cite web |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/earlier-british-watercolours-lent-whitworth-institute |title=Earlier British Watercolours Lent By The Whitworth Institute |author= |website=tate.org.uk |publisher=Tate |access-date=1 August 2023}} and John Robert Cozens, and Thomas Girtin.{{cite web |url=https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ourcollection/historicart/ |title=Historic Art |author= |website=whitworth.manchester.ac.uk |publisher=The Whitworth |access-date=1 August 2023}}
Some of the exhibitions at the Whitworth are made up from works in the permanent collection however to ensure proper conservation of the artworks the Whitworth do not have any artworks on permanent display.
The gallery also focuses on modern and contemporary artists, and the art collections include works by Degas, van Gogh, Gauguin, Pissarro, Picasso, Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee, Walter Sickert, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Ford Madox Brown, Eduardo Paolozzi, Francis Bacon, William Blake, David Hockney, L. S. Lowry, and a fine collection of works by J. M. W. Turner. One of its most famous works is the marble sculpture Genesis (1929–31) by Sir Jacob Epstein. It also houses the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection.{{cite web |url=http://www.outsiderartassociation.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117 |title=The Whitworth |author= |website=outsiderartassociation.eu |publisher=Outsider Art Association |access-date=1 August 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ourcollection/musgravekinleyoutsiderart/ |title=Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art {{!}} Whitworth Art Gallery |website=whitworth.manchester.ac.uk |access-date=23 October 2019}}
Directors
Sook-Kyng Lee became director and took up her role at the Whitworth in August 2023 and become Honorary Professor of Transcultural Curating at the University of Manchester.
June 2017, Maria Balshaw stepped down as the director to take up her role as the director of the Tate. Nick Merriman then became acting interim director of the Whitworth.{{cite news |last1=Brown| first1=Mark |last2=Pidd |first2=Helen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/11/tate-to-name-maria-balshaw-as-new-director-replacing-nicholas-serota|title=Tate to name Maria Balshaw as new director to succeed Serota |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |date=11 January 2017 |access-date=11 January 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38582411 |title=Maria Balshaw: Manchester gallery boss to be Tate's first female director |publisher=BBC News |date=17 January 2017 |access-date=17 January 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/17/maria-balshaw-tate-appointment-confirmed-by-prime-minister |title=Maria Balshaw's Tate appointment confirmed by prime minister |author=Mark Brown |work=The Guardian |date=17 January 2017 |access-date=17 January 2017}}
On 11 October 2018, it was announced that Alistair Hudson would be the new director of the Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth. Hudson, previously director at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), is a co-director of the Asociación de Arte Útil.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}
Gallery
File:Whitworth Art Gallery - geograph.org.uk - 146456.jpg|The Gallery in 1957
Image:Whitworth-gallery-4.jpg|Entrance hall
Image:Whitworth-gallery-1.jpg|Gallery interior
Image:Whitworth-gallery-2.jpg|Gallery interior
Image:Whitworth-gallery-3.jpg|Gallery interior
File:View of Whitworth Park from the interior of The Whitworth art gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK.jpg|View of Whitworth Park from the interior of the art gallery, July 2023
See also
{{portal|Greater Manchester}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{Official website|www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk}}
- [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/data/gb133-wag Whitworth Art Gallery archives], University of Manchester Library
{{Museums and galleries in Greater Manchester}}
{{University of Manchester}}
{{Manchester B&S}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitworth, The}}
Category:Art museums and galleries in Manchester
Category:University museums in England
Category:Buildings at the University of Manchester
Category:Textile museums in the United Kingdom
Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1889