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Manchester ARTICLES

The Whitworth Gallery Is The Tate Of The North

16th November 2008

Manchester is home to one of England’s most influential art gallery’s, The Whitworth Art Gallery and was founded in 1889. It was originally The Whitworth Institute and Park and was built during the period of Victorian philanthropy as a voluntary cultural, educational and technical institution. The gallery was built in memory of North West greatest industrialists, Sir Joseph Whitworth.

Sixty important and established Mancunians became governors of the Whitworth Gallery including the editor of The Manchester Guardian, C. P. Scott.

The inspiration for the art gallery came from continental Europe and the need for collections to be of international importance. The first building was finished in 1908 and was significant to the Arts and Crafts movement and a centre of excellence for research and learning.

The Whitworth also established an outstanding collection of British watercolours, drawings and textiles. During the early part of the 20th century the collection of prints and modern art won the accolade of being of national importance.

Also at this time the gallery introduced public displays, exhibitions, lectures and events.

In 1958 the University of Manchester took over the running of the gallery and all the collections were put under the trusteeship of the University.

During this period the University concentrated on modernising the Whitworth and introducing more modern and contemporary art. The reputation of the art gallery grew to such a point that it was called the “The Tate of the North”.

The gallery has an internationally significant collection of wallpaper in the interior design department.

1960 saw the refurbishment of The Whitworth, designed by Bickerdike, Allen and partners.

In the 1970’s public access to the gallery was expanded to the stored collections, with the introduction of study rooms for fine art, textiles and wallpapers.

The Education department of the gallery was the first in this country to introduce a post 16 units and has been deemed as an important aspect of widening participation in higher education.

Another first for the gallery is it extensive collections being available to be viewed on-line and is still the leader of digital access of stored collections, with over 90% on file.