Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, formerly known as Bury Museum and Art Gallery, is a public
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
,
archives
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
, and
art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
in the town of
Bury, Greater Manchester
Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015.
The town is within the historic county boundarie ...
, northern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, owned by
Bury Council
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of ten in Greater Manchester and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of E ...
. Built in 1901, the Museum's buildings were restored and reopened in 2005.
History
Bury Art Museum's collection was established, in commemoration of
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...
in 1897, with the gift of more than 200 oil paintings, watercolours, prints and ceramics accumulated by the
Victorian paper manufacturer
Thomas Wrigley
Thomas Wrigley (27 June 1808 – 26 January 1880) was a British paper manufacturer, cotton mill owner, art collector and philanthropist from Bury, Lancashire. He was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1872.
Born on 27 June 1808 close to his fat ...
(1808–1880), on the condition that suitable premises should be built to house the collection. The present building was designed by the Manchester firm of Woodhouse and Willoughby, and was opened by
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Ki ...
on 9 October 1901. The town's Museum opened in the basement of the Art Gallery in 1907.
Collections
The museum's Wrigley Collection is an assemblage of more than two hundred oil paintings, watercolours, prints and ceramics, which includes works by
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
,
John Constable
John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
,
Edwin Landseer
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...
, and
George Clausen
Sir George Clausen (18 April 1852 – 22 November 1944) was a British artist working in oil and watercolour, etching, mezzotint, dry point and occasionally lithographs. He was knighted in 1927.
Biography
George Clausen was born at 8 William S ...
. Donations of other artworks quickly followed the Museum's opening, including donations from the town's Member of Parliament
James Kenyon (1846–1924) and many others. Other paintings include works by
Henry Dawson,
John Bagnold Burgess
John Bagnold Burgess (London 21 October 1829 – 2 November 1897 London) was an English artist known for his paintings of historical and genre scenes, principally in Spain.Dictionary of National Biography, 1901, pp. 333–5.
Life and work
...
, and
Joseph Noel Paton
Sir Joseph Noel Paton (13 December 1821 – 26 December 1901) was a Scottish artist, illustrator and sculptor. He was also a poet and had an interest in, and knowledge of, Scottish folklore and Celtic legends.
Early life
He was born in Woo ...
. There are twentieth-century paintings by artists such as
Victor Pasmore
Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s.
Early life
Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He s ...
and
Edward Burra
Edward John Burra CBE (29 March 1905 – 22 October 1976) was an English painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, best known for his depictions of the urban underworld, black culture and the Harlem scene of the 1930s.
Biography Early life
Burra w ...
, and the Museum also holds more recent twenty-first-century art works.
Restoration
In 2005, a £1.2 million refurbishment was carried out, designed to provide a brand new museum, art gallery and library all under one roof. This includes a combined Museum and Archives Centre which, based on a radical re-think, uses artefacts, documentation and art to tell the story of the town. The council decided, in 2006, to sell
Lowry's painting ''The Riverbank'' at auction in order to fund part of its social services budget shortfall which resulted in the
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives. Its function ...
(MLA) removing its accredited museum status.
Bury Museum and Art Gallery was renamed as Bury Art Museum in 2011. The most recent renovation includes modern artefacts such as iPods and electric iRobot vacuum cleaners.
Gallery
File:Bury Art Gallery (14450343879).jpg, Detail from the Frieze, Bury Art Museum
File:Bury Art Gallery (14627607803).jpg, Frieze, Bury Art Museum
File:Bury Art Museum staircase 2016.jpg, Staircase, Bury Art Museum
File:Albert Joseph Moore - Elijah's Sacrifice 1863.jpg, Albert Joseph Moore
Albert Joseph Moore (4 September 184125 September 1893) was an English painter, known for his depictions of languorous female figures set against the luxury and decadence of the classical world.
Life
Moore was born at York on 4 September 1841 ...
, ''Elijah's Sacrifice'' (1863)
File:John Bagnold Burgess - A Modern Saint Francis.jpg, John Bagnold Burgess
John Bagnold Burgess (London 21 October 1829 – 2 November 1897 London) was an English artist known for his paintings of historical and genre scenes, principally in Spain.Dictionary of National Biography, 1901, pp. 333–5.
Life and work
...
, ''A Modern Saint Francis''
File:Henry Dawson - An English Lake.jpg, Henry Dawson, ''An English Lake''
File:Joseph Noel Paton - Dante Meditating.jpg, Joseph Noel Paton
Sir Joseph Noel Paton (13 December 1821 – 26 December 1901) was a Scottish artist, illustrator and sculptor. He was also a poet and had an interest in, and knowledge of, Scottish folklore and Celtic legends.
Early life
He was born in Woo ...
, ''Dante Meditating''
File:Bury Art Museum - geograph.org.uk - 3059668.jpg, Exeterior, Bury Art Museum
See also
*
Listed buildings in Bury
Bury is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, and it is unparished. The central area of the town and the surrounding countryside contain 67 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for ...
*
List of museums in Greater Manchester
This list of museums in Greater Manchester, England contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultu ...
References
External links
Bury Art Museum and Sculpture CentreBury Art Museum and Sculpture Centreat Bury Council website
Bury Art Museumat Visitbury.com
{{Buildings and structures in Bury
Grade II listed buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury
Museums in Greater Manchester
Art museums and galleries in Greater Manchester
Local museums in Greater Manchester
Tourist attractions in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury
Museums established in 1901
1901 establishments in England