Angel Of Anarchy, Eileen Agar
Whitechapel Gallery has been on the list of places to visit for a while. I used to walk past the gallery a couple of times a week when I worked in the city. With all the city workers now working from home and the local business slowing down or maybe never to be seen again, this part of London is still very quiet.
To close out my very arty month of June, I looked to check whether they were back open. They were. I booked a ticket to the Angel of Anarchy exhibition that was on. I could have gone to this gallery many times before but had put it off, thinking that there would always be time, always another time. As the lockdown had ended, I only wanted to do things that were safe to do and that I also really enjoy. Now was also the time to get some things off my visual to-do list in case I never got to do them again.
The time was now, and I booked a ticket. A friend then asked me to go to Brighton with her on the same date, damn! I really fancied a day out again at the beach, so I emailed the gallery and asked if I could change the ticket date. They immediately came back and said this would be no problem and changed it over straight away. Perfect. I could do the beach and put off the gallery for a little longer.
It was my first time hearing of the artist Eileen Agar. The title of the exhibition intrigued me. It made me think of rebellion, the good kind. When I was inside the gallery reception, I realised how much bigger the space and building were. It was much, much larger than I thought. There had been scaffolding works outside, and I never looked at it from across the other side of the road. It's a beautiful building and must have a lot of history as well as the stories of all the artists and art that had exhibited.
It was airy, light, and huge in the first exhibition space where Agar's works were displayed. I read about her 70-year career, her being from Argentina and that she had a strict mother and a "rebellious childhood". It annoyed me that she was labelled rebellious, especially as a young child. Something must have happened for her to display the behaviour that the adults thought was unacceptable. I instinctively felt protective of her and glad she found art as a way to escape whatever it was that was causing her to "rebel".
Her art tendencies were mostly Cubism and Surrealism. I am not an art purist that way, but reading up on this was interesting. I like that she unintentionally came to be considered a Surrealist without trying to be.
Titles like The Autobiography of An Embryo and Collective Unconsciousness gave much more meaning to what she was portraying in her work. Collective Unconsciousness was an oil painting and was in 4 sections. This was my favourite piece of the entire exhibition. Before I could take a photo, one of the team came over to let me know that only certain pieces were allowed to be photographed.
I liked her even more when I read about her feminist activism and being part of a small group of Surrealist female artists who were pushing against the patriarchy in the art world. As surrealism's emphasis is on creative potential and imaginative freedom (yes, I did look this up), she used this to challenge the female oppression artists faced from their male peers. My kind of woman.
Her work looks like there is so much going on internally, and there was. She had a challenging childhood, and it made its way into her work. There were also a lot of African influences in her work, but it wasn't clear if she had travelled or lived there at any stage of her life. She had travelled to various European places and lived in London during the War. You can feel the anxiety in some of her work. There is also the theme of nature in many of her pieces too. I love how delicate and vulnerable they looked compared to some of her other pieces.
I enjoyed the time I spent with her art. There are pictures of her in another part of the exhibition. She looks interesting and fun, which made me more curious about her. I have looked her up since. She has written her autobiography, which I will add to my reading list.
It is a bigger gallery than I had imagined, and there were a few other exhibitions simultaneously. There was an installation projected onto a brick wall. This was amazing, although I can't actually remember what this part of the exhibition was about. I thought I was just coming for Eileen Agar and some anarchy, but sometimes you get more than what you expect in a good way.
I made my way upstairs and into one of the darkened rooms where a film was playing. It was already halfway through. I sat down and watched. It was called Dear Babylon, directed by Ayo Akingbade. I was immersed in this short documentary which was set on a council estate in East London and covered the topics of gentrification, social housing, and politics. This was a combination of fact and fictional events that would probably sound a bit gimmicky on paper. I sat and watched until the end and then watched it from the beginning all the way through.
Although parts of the story are fictional, the real impact is shown through the real interviews. What seems like fiction can become your reality, which has already happened in London. It all looks great until you are kept out of places that were once the only place that you could afford to barely live. This was a great short film; you can watch it here on Mubi. Dear Babylon
I walked round the rest of the building taking in the other exhibitions. Although I was glad that I had finally got around to visiting the gallery, I wondered how many of Whitechapel's local residents and the surrounding area had visited at least once. I had put it off for years.
I really liked Eileen Agar's work and was intrigued by her story. I am looking forward to reading her book, although I have quite a growing book list to work my way through. Dear Babylon was a nice surprise. Being from East London and still living here, it was interesting to reflect on how much things have changed since my childhood. We recently got our first Starbucks and Pret, a short walk away. So much has changed and will change.
I walked home after spending a few hours inside the gallery. It had been a good day filled with great art, feminism, gentrification, and the social housing crisis all in one space, which I now know is much bigger than I anticipated.
77-82 Whitechapel High St
London
E1 7QX
