 | |
| Established | 1823; 202 years ago (1823) |
|---|---|
| Location | Mosley Street,Manchester, England |
| Coordinates | 53°28′43″N2°14′29″W / 53.47861°N 2.24139°W /53.47861; -2.24139 |
| Collections | approx. 25,000 objects[1] |
| Collection size | 807,000 sq ft (75,000 m2) in 94 galleries |
| Visitors | 514,852 (1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014)[2] |
| Public transit access | Metrolink:St Peter's Square andPiccadilly Gardens stations |
| Website | manchesterartgallery.org |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Manchester Art Gallery |
| Designated | 25 February 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1282980 |
Manchester Art Gallery, formerlyManchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly ownedart museum onMosley Street inManchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three connected buildings, two of which were designed by SirCharles Barry. Both of Barry's buildings arelisted. The building that links them was designed byHopkins Architects following anarchitectural design competition managed byRIBA Competitions. It opened in 2002 following a major renovation and expansion project undertaken by the art gallery.
Manchester Art Gallery is free to enter and open six days a week, closed Mondays. It houses many works of local and international significance and has a collection of more than 25,000 objects. More than half a million people visited the museum in the period of a year, according to figures released in April 2014.
TheRoyal Manchester Institution was a scholarly society formed in 1823.[3] It was housed in what is now the art gallery's main gallery building on Mosley Street. The first object acquired for its collection,James Northcote'sA Moor (a portrait of the celebrated black actorIra Aldridge), was bought in 1827.[3]
The Royal Manchester Institution opened its galleries to the public 10 years after its formation and subsequently held regular art exhibitions, collected works of fine art and promoted the arts from the 1820s until 1882 when its premises and collections were transferred under Act of Parliament toManchester Corporation, becoming Manchester Art Gallery.[3] The institution was handed over on condition that £2,000per annum would be spent on art for the next 20 years.[3] The Art Gallery Committee bought enthusiastically and by the end of the 19th century had accrued an impressive collection of fine art, added to by gifts and bequests from wealthy Mancunian industrialists.
On 3 April 1913, three women (Lillian Williamson,Evelyn Manesta, and Annie Briggs) staged a protest in favour ofwomen's suffrage in the United Kingdom. They broke the glass of 13 paintings including two byJohn Everett Millais and two byGeorge Frederick Watts. Four of the paintings were damaged by the broken glass. Williamson was sent to jail for three months and Manesta for one.[4]
The gallery is operated by Manchester City Galleries, a department ofManchester City Council which is also responsible forPlatt Hall,Fallowfield. Alistair Hudson is the director of the galleries and also director of theUniversity of Manchester'sWhitworth Art Gallery. He became joint director in a collaboration between the council and the university in 2018.[5]
The gallery's budget is controlled by the council but it also funded by the Manchester Art Gallery Trust, a charity (Registered Charity Number 1048581) that supports its work. The trust raises nearly half the funding required from companies, individuals and grant making trusts and foundations.[6] The gallery is currently open daily and on the first Wednesday of every month opens until 9pm.[7]
Manchester Art Gallery is housed in three connected buildings. The City Art Gallery building, which faces ontoMosley Street, was designed and constructed between 1824 and 1835. It originally housed theRoyal Manchester Institution. Designed by architect Sir Charles Barry in theGreek Ionic style, the building is nowGrade I listed. The two-storey gallery is built in rusticatedashlar to a rectangular plan on a raisedplinth. The roof is hidden by a continuousdentilledcornice and plainparapet. Its 11-bayfaçade has two three-bay side ranges and a central five-baypedimented projectingportico with sixIonic columns. Set back behind the parapet is anattic with small windows that forms alantern above the entrance hall.[8]
Manchester Athenaeum, also designed by Barry, was built in 1837 and was bought by theManchester Corporation in 1938 to provide additional space. It is Grade II* listed and designed in the ItalianPalazzo style.[9] The Athenaeum fronts ontoPrincess Street.
In November 1994, anarchitectural design competition managed byRIBA Competitions was launched to refurbish the existing historic gallery and the Athenaeum and link them with a new building on the car park site.[10] The competition attracted 132 architects, six of whom were selected to proceed to the final stage.Michael Hopkins and Partners were announced as winners in January 1995.[10] The gallery closed in 1998 and reopened in 2002 following the £35 million refurbishment and extension.[10][11] The new extension was criticised as "the splendid and really beautiful interiors of the original building .. have been gratuitously spoiled", and was the 2002 winner of theSir Hugh Casson Award for the worst new building of the year.[12]
The gallery has a fine art collection consisting of more than 2,000oil paintings, 3,000watercolours and drawings, 250 sculptures, 90miniatures and around 1,000 prints.[13] It owns more than 13,000 decorative art objects including ceramics, glass, enamels, furniture, metalwork, arms and armour, wallpapers,doll houses and related items.[14] The oldest object is an Egyptiancanopic jar from circa 1100BC.[14]
Thomas Coglan Horsfall's eclectic collection from theManchester Art Museum inAncoats Hall was absorbed into the gallery when the museum closed in 1953.[15]
Manchester Art Gallery is strongest in its collection ofVictorian art, especially that of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, andVictorian decorative arts.
The gallery houses several works by the French impressionist,Pierre Adolphe Valette, who painted and taught in Manchester in the early years of the 20th century; some of his scenes of foggy Manchester streets and canals are displayed. ACézanne hangs in the same room, showing the similarity in treatment and subject between his misty French river bridge and Valette's bridge in a pre-Clean Air Act Mancunian fog.L. S. Lowry was one of Valette's students and the influence on Lowry of impressionism can be seen at the gallery, where paintings by the two artists hang together. While most locally held Lowry works are in the collection ofThe Lowry gallery, 3.75 kilometres (2.33 mi) away in Salford, the Manchester Art Gallery has Lowry's 1954 paintingPiccadilly Gardens on display.[16]
The museum housesThe Picnic (1908), a work by the British Impressionist painterWynford Dewhurst, who was born in Manchester.Annie Swynnerton who was born inHulme is represented in the collection by 16 paintings and her contemporary at theManchester School of Art,Susan Dacre by 17 paintings.[17]
As well as paintings, the museum holds collections of glass, silverware and furniture, including four pieces by the Victorian architect and designerWilliam Burges.[18]
In January 2018, the gallery took downJohn William Waterhouse'sHylas and the Nymphs (1896), leaving an empty space to encourage debate as to how women's bodies should be displayed. Post-it notes were provided for visitors to air their views. The gallery's actions prompted a strong backlash with accusations of censorship, puritanism and political correctness. The museum was "completely taken by surprise by the ferocity of the response"[19] and the painting was rehung after a week's absence.[20] The removal came two months after an unsuccessful campaign to have theMetropolitan Museum of Art remove a painting byBalthus of an adolescent girl.[21]
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Dutch School
English School
Flemish School
French School
German School
Italian School
Hungarian School
2013:Raqib Shaw
