Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940–70 is on at the Whitechapel Gallery until 7th May. Tower Hamlets residents who have an Idea Store card can book to see it for £1 on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
![Closeup of 1959 painting by Juana Frances](https://www.ourbow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Closeup-of-1959-painting-by-Juana-Frances-s-1000x1000.jpg)
This is a huge exhibition of 150 paintings across two floors. I went to see it on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised, and inspired.
![Composition in Yellow, 1957 by Emiko Nakano](https://www.ourbow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Composition-1949-by-Else-Fischer-Hansen-s-1000x750.jpg)
![Graphics Tottenham Court Road Station](https://www.ourbow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Tottenham-Court-Road-Station-s-1000x563.jpg)
Abstract art is all around us, so these paintings shouldn’t strike us as unusual. I left Tottenham Court Road Station on the Elizabeth Line to get to the galley. I got off at Liverpool Street and walked diagonally across the City, photographing bits of corporate abstract art with my iPhone.
![Vents outside the Leadenhall Building (the Cheesegrater)](https://www.ourbow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Vents-at-Cheesgrater-s-1000x563.jpg)
![This London Transport roundel on the entrance to Aldgate East station is of a design introduced in 1933. It's right beside the art gallery.](https://www.ourbow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Old-Underground-sign-at-Aldgate-East-s-1000x750.jpg)
I can thoroughly recommend this exhibition, although you do need to get into the groove a bit. Each of these paintings has a story to tell, but you have to try to work out what it is. There is a book available, but it is £40, and I live in a house already full of books. You can look up the artists online, and I discovered that searching for “abstract expressionism” or “action painting” on YouTube brought up a huge array of interesting videos.
Alan Tucker