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Thread: Excited to see the @WattsGallery exhibition 'Art & Action:Making Change in Victorian Britain'. I love this corner & the inclusion of the photo showing the Watts mosaic in Whitechapel. I've written on it. It's 1 of my favourite research journeys. I'd like to tell you more
In 1885 Watts' Time, Death and Judgement was placed on St Jude's Church's exterior wall, facing Whitechapel's Commercial St. It marked the success of Rev. Samuel Barnett and Henrietta Barnett's Fine Art exhibitions. I wrote about these exhibitions here https://academic.oup.com/jvc/article-abstract/16/3/385/4102452?redirectedFrom=fulltext
In 2009 I was a Knowledge Transfer fellow for an AHRC project based at Lambeth Palace. I was intrigued by the mosaic. Nattering away to an arch deacon at one of our project meetings, I mentioned the mosaic & how many thought it was destroyed. His reply surprised me...
The mosaic was not missing but hanging in HIS CHURCH, St Giles-in-the-Fields. At the time neither the Tate nor the Watts gallery had this information on their website. This chance encounter was exciting. I felt like I had hit the jack pot. One weekend I walked over to the church.
In 1924 St Jude's Church was pulled down. Henrietta Barnett offered the mosaic to other religious groups. 40 people applied. She chose St-Giles-in-the-Fields National School. It was relocated from Whitechapel to Holborn. HB liked that it would be on a cross road & ppl wld see it
The school paid £95 for its relocation. During transit the mosaic was damaged & fixed by the famous mosaic designer Boris Anrep for free. The School closed in 1963. 10 years later it was moved inside into the church's south porch. No doubt the Barnetts would have disapproved
The Barnetts believed in public art for all. They believed that art had spiritual potentials & beautified streets (even though Samuel was colour blind). The cost of insuring it was too great in 1973 for it to remain on the street. In 2009 I was amazed to see it.
In 2015 I published a chapter on the material dimensions of the mosaic. To this day, I think of the embodied journey I took to see it. I ponder on the chance encounter of a natter over coffee that led me to bear witness on an object that had long been thought lost or destroyed.
