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Private View: In the footsteps of the East London Group
Thursday 3rd October 2024 , 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Join us to celebrate 22 painters and guests from the Urban Contemporaries group opening their exhibition exploring the past and present of east London.
Bow Arts is delighted to present an exhibition exploring the past and present of east London, bringing together the historical paintings of the East London Group with their 21st century contemporaries.
Inspired by the East London Group’s scenes of the old East End, 22 painters from the Urban Contemporaries group and invited guests, including David Hepher, Doreen Fletcher, Ben Johnson, Philippa Beale, Timothy Hyman RA and Harriet Mena Hill, have created new works to be shown alongside their historical counterparts.
Exploring the artists’ shared passion for immortalising, celebrating, and unpicking the streets and scenes of east London, the show will explore the city across time – remembering long-demolished buildings, revealing hidden streets, and celebrating communities from the 1920s to the present day. A newly commissioned sound piece, made by an artist local to the Nunnery Gallery, will also provide an atmospheric soundscape to the exhibition.
The historic East London Group began with evening painting classes in Bethnal Green; made up of mostly working-class men and women, the group painted what surrounded them – the East End – capturing their city in a way never previously seen. Taught by painters John Cooper (1894-1943) and Walter Sickert (1860-1942), amongst others, the group became enormously successful despite the class prejudices of the time, exhibiting at Whitechapel Gallery and National Gallery, Millbank (now Tate Britain) and representing Britain in the Venice Biennale in 1936.
Only in recent years has the Group gained the historical recognition it deserves, and this show will present work from artists including Elwin Hawthorne, Cecil Osborne, Grace Oscroft, Henry Silk and the Steggles brothers, including works never previously seen publicly. Viewers will be able to explore Bow Road, Bethnal Green, and Grove Hall Park (behind the Nunnery Gallery), as well as canals, lumber yards and breweries, witnessing through these fascinating depictions the face of a changing London during the inter-war years.
The accompanying contemporary works explore a city changing at an even faster rate, capturing the buildings that have been dismantled and recreated, and the historic remnants that defiantly remain. Ignited by stories, of the artist’s own memories, ancestry, or research, these paintings are layered urban interpretations and though often personal, are inevitably shared by the others who walk these streets and call them home. With subjects including the brutalist Robin Hood estate before its demolition, the regenerated walkways of east London’s canals, and the ever-growing urban skyline, many of the works will hang next to their historic inspirations, presenting an intriguing comparison between the London of now, and that of nearly 100 years ago.
The exhibition has been curated by Alan Waltham (East London Group) and Ferha Farooqui and Frank Creber (Urban Contemporaries) together with the Nunnery Gallery.
The Nunnery Café will be open throughout the evening, serving a selection of drinks and light refreshments, including cocktails and locally brewed draft beer.
Access information
The Nunnery Gallery and Cafe have step-free access throughout from street level, including to the accessible toilet, and is service animal friendly. This venue does not have a hearing loop system.
Accessible parking is not available on-site.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility at this venue or event, would like to make us aware of any access requirements that you have in advance of visiting, or would like this information in an alternate format including Easy Read, please email nunnery@bowarts.com or call 020 8980 7774 (Ext. 3)
Access requirements could include things like providing equipment, services or support (e.g. information in Easy Read, speech to text software, additional 1:1 support), adjusting workshop timings (e.g. more break times), adjustments to the event space (e.g. making sure you have a table near the entrance) or anything else you can think of!
Transport Information
Opening hours: Tues-Sun, 10am to 4pm Address: Nunnery Gallery, 181 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ Nearest station(s): Bow Road (District and Hammersmith and City lines) is a 6-minute walk away, and Bow Church (DLR) is a 3-minute walk away. Bus: 205, 25, 425, A8, D8, 108, 276, 488 and 8 all service the surrounding area. Bike: Bicycle parking is located at Bow Church Station. The nearest Santander Cycles docking station is at Bow Church Station.
