Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance".[2] Its collection also includes 19th-century and earlier art works. It is a grade II listed building[3] owned and administered by Leeds City Council, linked on the West to Leeds Central Library and on the East via a bridge to the Henry Moore Institute with which it shares some sculptures. A Henry Moore sculpture, Reclining Woman: Elbow (1981), stands in front of the entrance.[4] The entrance hall contains Leeds' oldest civic sculpture, a 1712 marble statue of Queen Anne.[3][4]
In front of the gallery is Victoria Square, at the eastern end of which is the city's war memorial. This square is often used for rallies and demonstrations because of the speakers' dais provided by the raised entrance to the gallery.
The original concept of this gallery was initiated by an executive committee formed in 1876 for the purpose, by Leeds Fine Art Society. The original committee included its president, the Marquis of Ripon, Hon. Sec. John Joseph Willson, Rev. John Gott (vicar of Leeds, and son of Benjamin Gott), John Atkinson Grimshaw, and architect William Henry Thorp (1852–1944).[5] The gallery was built between 1886–88 by Thorp, as an extension to the Municipal Buildings to the west (built 1878–84 by George Corson, now housing Leeds Central Library).[4] It opened on 3 October 1888 as Leeds City Art Gallery and was paid for by public subscription, collected in honour of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. It was opened by the Mayor, Alderman Archibald Witham Scarr (1827–1904), with the artist Hubert von Herkomer in attendance.[6] What is now the Tiled Hall Café was the sculpture gallery, having been modified from the Reading Room of the adjacent public library, to be illuminated by electricity. All other galleries were lit by daylight from rooflights. The new building had a central court of two storeys with a glass roof and a fountain of Burmatofts faience.[6] (A floor was later put in to create additional space.)
In 1912, the Leeds Art Collections Fund (now known as the Leeds Art Fund) was formed to support the gallery's acquisitions. At its centenary exhibition in 2012, it displayed the 430 works it had helped to acquire for the city.[7]
In 1982 it was modified, turning the entrance from the East side to the South, on the Headrow, with an extension for the sculpture collection.[3][4] A further development was the conversion of three Victorian houses on Cookridge street to the Henry Moore Institute, which is now linked by a bridge to the gallery and contains the main sculpture collections.[3][8] The new building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 November 1982.
A £1.5 million renovation was completed in June 2007, including opening up the magnificent Victorian Tiled Hall (used as a café and bookshop) which links the gallery and the library, and the former Queen's Gallery was named after local businessman and patron of the arts, Arnold Ziff.[9] At first floor level there is direct access from the gallery to the Art Library. The gallery includes a ground floor lecture theatre named after Henry Moore which is used for a variety of events.
It closed again in January 2016 for extensive renovation, re-opening 13 October 2017. The renovation uncovered the glass roof in the Central Court Gallery, which had been covered by a false ceiling. An abstract wall painting by Lothar Götz was provided to brighten up the Victorian staircase.[10]
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group.
The Art Gallery of Ontario is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West. The building complex takes up 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft) of physical space, making it one of the largest art museums in North America and the second-largest art museum in Toronto, after the Royal Ontario Museum. In addition to exhibition spaces, the museum also houses an artist-in-residence office and studio, dining facilities, event spaces, gift shop, library and archives, theatre and lecture hall, research centre, and a workshop.
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham.
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The Arts Council Collection is a national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art. It was founded in 1946. The collection continues to acquire works each year. The Arts Council Collection reaches its audience through loans to public institutions, touring exhibitions, digital and outreach projects. The collection supports artists based in the UK through the purchase and display of their work, safeguarding it.
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore, and to promote the public appreciation of sculpture more generally. The Foundation is also tasked with administering the sale, exhibition and conservation of Moore's work in perpetuity.
Benedict William Read FSA was an English art historian. Usually known as Ben Read, he was the author of numerous books, essays and articles on nineteenth and twentieth century art history, and was one of the most authoritative writers in the second half of the twentieth century on British Victorian sculpture.
Henry Spencer Moore was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore also produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.
Sheffield, England, has a large population of amateur, working and professional visual artists and artworks.
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group.
The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection of oil paintings from British artists dating from 1700 onwards. The ground floor was at one time a public library.
Alison Mary Wilding OBE, RA is an English artist noted for her multimedia abstract sculptures. Wilding's work has been displayed in galleries internationally.
The Parkinson Building is a grade II listed building in Greek Revival style by Thomas Lodge located at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. The clock tower is the highest point of the building and stands at 57 metres (187 ft) tall, making it the 17th-tallest building in the city of Leeds.
Andrew Sabin is a British sculptor. He studied at Chelsea College of Art (1979–1983) where he worked as a senior lecturer until 2006.
Leeds Central Library is a public library in Leeds. Situated in the city centre, on Calverley Street, it houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection and hosts the Leeds Art Gallery.
Eric Craven Gregory, also known as Peter Gregory, was a publisher and benefactor of modern art and artists.
Leeds is known for its culture in the fields of art, architecture, music, sport, film and television. As the largest city in Yorkshire, Leeds is a centre of Yorkshire's contemporary culture and is the base for Yorkshire's television and regional newspapers.
Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, formerly known as Bury Museum and Art Gallery, is a public museum, archives, and art gallery in the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, northern England, owned by Bury Council. Built in 1901, the museum's buildings were restored and reopened in 2005.
John Wormald Appleyard was a British sculptor and monumental mason based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Terence Frederick Friedman (1940-2013) was an American-born art and architectural historian and museum curator. After his death in Leeds, UK, The Sculpture Journal, in their tribute, defined him as ‘a rare being - a scholar curator working in a regional museum, and an outstanding art historian, educator and collector’. He was also a highly acclaimed author and respected as a leading authority on 18th century ecclesiastical architecture. His book, The Eighteenth-Century Church in Britain, the first substantial study of the subject to appear in over half a century, won the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History in 2012.
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