Viewing A Century of the Artist’s Studio: 1920-2020

Landing at the Whitechapel Gallery this February is a new exhibition exploring the significance of the artist’s studio, whether it be an abandoned factory, an attic or a kitchen table. It also looks at how artists have embraced the studio as an exhibition space, public stage, collective workspace — even home — over the past 100 years. 

There are more than 100 works by 80 artists on display. You’ll encounter works by Picasso, Matisse and Egon Schiele as well as those by leading contemporary figures such as Walead Beshty, Lisa Brice and Kerry James Marshall.

Highlights include the series of ‘studio corners’, which recreate the live environments where great art has been produced; and Louise Bourgeois’s monumental sculpture, Cell IX (1999), which imagines the studio as prison and portal.

Also worthy of note are the hand-woven tapestries from the Arpilleras Workshops and Tracey Emin’s series, Naked Photos – Life Model Goes Mad (1996), which records a painting performance she gave in Galleri Andreas Brändström in Stockholm. With such variety on display, there’s something here for everyone.