Manchester Art Gallery,formerlyManchester City Art Gallery,is a publicly ownedart museumonMosley StreetinManchester 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 bySir Charles Barry.Both of Barry's buildings arelisted.The building that links them was designed byHopkins Architectsfollowing anarchitectural design competitionmanaged byRIBA Competitions.It opened in 2002 following a major renovation and expansion project undertaken by the art gallery.
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| Established | 1823 |
|---|---|
| Location | Mosley Street,Manchester,England |
| Coordinates | 53°28′43″N2°14′29″W/ 53.47861°N 2.24139°W |
| 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 SquareandPiccadilly Gardensstations |
| Website | manchesterartgallery.org |
Listed Building– Grade I | |
| Official name | Manchester Art Gallery |
| Designated | 25 February 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1282980 |
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.
History
editRoyal Manchester Institution
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TheRoyal Manchester Institutionwas 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 annumwould 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 Millaisand 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]
Governance
editThe gallery is operated by Manchester City Galleries, a department ofManchester City Councilwhich 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]
Architecture
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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 the Royal 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 rusticatedashlarto a rectangular plan on a raisedplinth.The roof is hidden by a continuousdentilledcorniceand plainparapet.Its 11-bayfaçadehas two three-bay side ranges and a central five-baypedimentedprojectingporticowith sixIoniccolumns. Set back behind the parapet is anatticwith small windows that forms alanternabove the entrance hall.[8]
Manchester Athenaeum,also designed by Barry, was built in 1837 and was bought by theManchester Corporationin 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 competitionmanaged byRIBA Competitionswas 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 Partnerswere 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 Awardfor the worst new building of the year.[12]
Collections
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The gallery has a fine art collection consisting of more than 2,000oil paintings,3,000watercoloursand drawings, 250 sculptures, 90miniaturesand 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 housesand related items.[14]The oldest object is an Egyptiancanopic jarfrom circa 1100BC.[14]
Thomas Coglan Horsfall's eclectic collection from theManchester Art MuseuminAncoats Hallwas 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. ACézannehangs 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 ActMancunian fog.L. S. Lowrywas 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 Lowrygallery, 3.75 kilometres (2.33 mi) away in Salford, the Manchester Art Gallery has Lowry's 1954 paintingPiccadilly Gardenson display.[16]
The museum housesThe Picnic(1908), a work by the British Impressionist painterWynford Dewhurst,who was born in Manchester. Annie Swynnertonwho was born inHulmeis represented in the collection by 16 paintings and her contemporary at theManchester School of Art,Susan Dacreby 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 Artremove a painting byBalthusof an adolescent girl.[21]
Highlights of collection
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Artists
editDutch School
- Backhuysen, Ludolf– 1 painting;
- Borch, Gerard ter– 2 paintings;
- Brekelenkam, Quirijn van– 2 paintings;
- Jan van de Cappelle– 3 paintings;
- Cuyp, Aelbert– 2 paintings;
- Dou, Gerrit– 1 painting;
- Heem, Jan Janszoon de– 1 painting;
- Hobbema, Meyndert– 1 painting;
- Hooch, Pieter de– 2 paintings;
- Ochtervelt, Jacob– 2 paintings;
- Ostade, Adriaen van– 1 painting;
- Ruysdael, Salomon van– 2 paintings;
- Snyders, Frans– 1 painting;
- Sorgh, Hendrik Martenszoon– 2 paintings;
- Steen, Jan– 1 painting;
- Velde, Adriaen van de– 1 painting;
- Velde the Younger, Willem van de– 2 paintings;
English School
- Beechey, William– 2 paintings;
- Burra, Edward– 1 painting;
- Constable, John– 1 painting;
- Gainsborough, Thomas– 10 paintings;
- Hogarth, William– 2 paintings;
- Kneller, Sir Godfrey– 1 paintings;
- Landseer, Sir Edwin– 3 paintings;
- Lawrence, Thomas– 1 painting;
- Lely, Peter– 1 painting;
- Lowry, L. S.– 4 paintings;
- Nevinson, C. R. W.– 1 painting;
- Reynolds, Joshua– 4 paintings;
- Souch, John– 1 painting;
- Stubbs, George– 1 paintings;
- Turner, J. M. W.– 1 painting;
- Valette, Pierre Adolphe– 5 paintings;
Flemish School
- Francken the Younger, Frans– 1 painting;
- Teniers the Younger, David– 3 paintings;
French School
- Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille– 2 paintings;
- Degas, Edgar– 1 painting;
- Dughet, Gaspard– 1 painting;
- Gauguin, Eugène Henri Paul– 1 painting;
- Gellée, Claude– 1 painting;
- Mengin, Charles– 1 painting;
- Pissarro, Camille– 1 painting;
- Renoir, Pierre Auguste– 1 painting;
- Vernet, Claude-Joseph– 1 painting;
German School
- Zoffany, Johan– 1 painting;
Italian School
- Daddi, Bernardo– 1 painting;
- Giordano, Luca– 1 painting;
- Mura, Francesco de– 1 painting;
- Reni, Guido– 1 painting;
- Turchi, Alessandro– 1 painting;
- Zuccarelli, Francesco– 1 painting;
- Giovanni Ansaldo – 1 painting
Hungarian School
- Wagner, Alexander von– 1 painting
Temporary exhibitions
edit2013:Raqib Shaw
See also
edit
References
edit- ^"About the collection".Manchester Galleries.Retrieved12 January2015.
- ^Denise Evans (11 April 2014)."Half a million visit Manchester Art Gallery in a year".Manchester Evening News.Retrieved12 January2015.
- ^abcdHistory of the collection,Manchester Galleries,retrieved13 January2015
- ^"Manchester Art Gallery Outrage | Manchester Art Gallery".Manchester Art Gallery.8 March 2016.Retrieved30 April2018.
- ^Rebecca Atkinson (25 February 2011),Balshaw named joint director of Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery,Museums Association,retrieved13 January2015
- ^Supporting Us,Manchester Galleries,retrieved13 January2015
- ^Jonathan Schofield (11 April 2014)."Art gallery's record year tells us about Manchester tourism".Manchester Confidential. Archived fromthe originalon 13 January 2015.Retrieved13 January2015.
- ^Historic England,"City Art Gallery (1282980)",National Heritage List for England,retrieved1 May2012
- ^Historic England,"The Athenaeum 81 Princess Street (1270889)",National Heritage List for England,retrieved28 January2015
- ^abcManchester Art Gallery Expansion Project,Manchester Galleries,retrieved13 January2015
- ^Manchester Art Gallery,Royal Institute of British Architects,retrieved1 May2012
- ^Stamp, Gavin. "Nooks and Corners: The Sir Hugh Casson Award for 2002".Private Eye.No. 1070. p. 12.
- ^Fine art,Manchester Galleries,retrieved13 January2015
- ^abDecorative art,Manchester Galleries,retrieved13 January2015
- ^Stuart Eagles."Thomas Coglan Horsfall, and Manchester Art Museum and University Settlement".infed.org.Retrieved13 January2015.
- ^"Piccadilly Gardens".Art UK.Retrieved1 January2023.
- ^"We found 2,132 paintings relevant to your search".TheBBC.Archived fromthe originalon 13 March 2013.Retrieved13 February2015.
- ^"Search the Collections".Manchester Art Gallery.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^Higgins, Charlotte (19 March 2018)."'The vitriol was really unhealthy': artist Sonia Boyce on the row over taking down Hylas and the Nymphs ".The Guardian.Retrieved10 April2018.
- ^Victorian nymphs painting back on display after censorship row,The BBC,retrieved3 February2018
- ^Libbey, Peter (4 December 2017)."Met Defends Suggesting Painting of Girl After Petition Calls for its Removal".The New York Times.Retrieved17 February2018.
External links
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