Towner Art Gallery is located in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
,
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
, on the south coast of England.
It hosts one of the most significant public art collections in the
South of England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes Gr ...
and draws over 100,000 visitors a year. It was described by
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...
as "the region's biggest art gallery", in 2017.
It was established with a bequest in 1920, from John Chisholm Towner who had served as a local
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
. It was first homed in Manor Gardens, adjacent to Gildredge Park in the Old Town area of Eastbourne. Opening there in 1923, it closed when the building was sold in 2005. In 2009, it re-opened in a purpose-built facility adjacent to the
Congress Theatre, near Eastbourne's seafront. The venue will host the 2023
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
.
History
The Towner Gallery was established as a project in 1920 following the death that year of Alderman John Chisholm Towner, who left 22 paintings, £6,000 and instructions for the establishment of an art gallery. This bequest was made for the benefit of the people of Eastbourne; the undertaking was entrusted to a local group of supporters and the local council.
1923 opening
For 72 years, the Gallery was located within a Manor House on the High Street in the Old Town area. The Manor House, located within its own Manor Gardens, dated to the 18th century, but was taken over in the 1920s for public use as a public gallery and local museum, following Towner's bequest.
A noted historic building in Eastbourne, the Manor House is dwarfed in age by its neighbours; being opposite the Lamb Inn, dating back to 1180AD and St Mary's Church, from the same period. Despite having been owned by the town as a public facility for most of the 20th century, the Manor House and gardens were sold in 2005/6 by the local authority,
Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors.
The B ...
.
2005–2009: no gallery or museum
In 2009, after a gap of several years during which Eastbourne had no local art gallery or museum, Towner reopened in a purpose-built gallery building adjacent to the
Congress Theatre. Funders of the new gallery included the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
and
Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors.
The B ...
.
2009: new building
![Towner Contemporary, Eastbourne (6849836834)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Towner_Contemporary%2C_Eastbourne_%286849836834%29.jpg)
Designed by Rick Mather Architects and built mainly from
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
, at a cost of £8.6m, the new gallery building was planned to be more easily accessible to the public and to store the 4,000 works of the growing collection in a safe and climate-controlled manner.
Visually, it was designed to reflect the chalk cliffs of the
Eastbourne Downs
The Eastbourne Downland Estate is an area of downland at the easternmost end of the South Downs National Park in East Sussex, England. It was bought by the public, following threats to the beauty spots of Beachy Head and the surrounding farmland ...
.
Unlike the old building, no provision was made to incorporate a local museum, though substantially more space was created for a café, shop and larger exhibitions.
2014: transfer of ownership from Eastbourne Borough Council
In 2014,
Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors.
The B ...
transferred operation of the Gallery to a newly-created independent charitable trust.
David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby (born 28 October 1938) is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme ''Question Time''. He is the son of broadcaster R ...
was appointed the Chair of Trustees. The Council retained ownership of the Gallery's building and its collection of artworks.
2017: threats of closure
Despite no longer directly operating the Gallery,
Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors.
The B ...
remained a major annual funder, alongside
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
.
In 2017, cuts in the local authority's funding of 50% were proposed. This threatens the gallery with closure to some or all of its services and the greater use of admission charges for access to public art.
2022: Refurbishment
From 2021 to 2022 the Gallery significantly remodelled its ground floor and cinema to "improve the visitor experience, build visitor engagement and increase Towner’s financial sustainability." Design was led by architects Manalo & White.
Collections and exhibitions
Towner Collection
The Towner Collection is one of the most significant public art collections in the South East of England.
It boasts in excess of 5,000 works of art by historic, modern and contemporary artists including:
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...
, John Gascoigne Lake,
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen).
Early life and education
Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...
,
David Bomberg
David Garshen Bomberg (5 December 1890 – 19 August 1957) was a British painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.
Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry ...
,
Alan Davie
James Alan Davie (28 September 1920 – 5 April 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician.
Biography
Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who ...
,
Tacita Dean
Tacita Charlotte Dean CBE, RA (born 1965) is a British / German visual artist who works primarily in film. She was a nominee for the Turner Prize in 1998, won the Hugo Boss Prize in 2006, and was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 2008. S ...
,
Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...
,
Anya Gallaccio
Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a British artist, who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter (including chocolate, sugar, flowers and ice).
Her use of organic materials results in natural processes ...
, Thomas Jones,
Peter Liversidge
Peter Liversidge (born 1973) is a British contemporary artist notable for his diverse artistic practice and use of proposals.
Personal life
Peter Liversidge studied Fine Art in Exeter at the University of Plymouth and film and photography at Mo ...
,
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) 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. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
,
Cedric Morris
Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Baronet (11 December 1889 – 8 February 1982) was a British artist, art teacher and plantsman. He was born in Swansea in South Wales, but worked mainly in East Anglia. As an artist he is best known for his portra ...
, William Nicholson,
Julian Opie
Julian Opie (; born 1958) is a visual artist of the New British Sculpture movement.
Life and education
Opie was born in London in 1958 and raised in the city of Oxford. He attended The Dragon School and then Magdalen College School, Oxfor ...
,
Ian Potts,
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 ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsca ...
,
Eric Slater ''Eric Slater should not be confused with another Eric Slater who designed ceramics in the 1930s.''
Eric Brindley Slater (1896 – 13 March 1963) was an English printmaker.
Biography
Eric Slater was a colour woodcut artist who had an international ...
,
Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations.
Tillmans was the first photog ...
,
Alfred Wallis
Alfred Wallis (18 August 1855 – 29 August 1942) was a British fisherman and artist known for his port landscapes and shipping scenes painted in a naïve style. Having no artistic training, he began painting at the age of 70, using househol ...
,
Christopher Wood,
Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Wr ...
and
Carol Wyatt
Carol Wyatt (born 4 October 1946) is a British artist known as a painter and for her stage designs for opera productions.
Biography
Wyatt studied at the Wimbledon School of Art during 1966 and 1967 and at the Camberwell School of Art from 196 ...
.
The initial collection consisted mainly of Victorian narrative painting, especially pictures of animals and children. The current collection now includes oil paintings, watercolours, works on paper, etchings, prints, sculpture, wood cuts, ceramic objects, installations and video art.
Since the gallery was established it has received donations of work by significant artists including:
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) 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. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
,
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 ...
,
Alfred Wallis
Alfred Wallis (18 August 1855 – 29 August 1942) was a British fisherman and artist known for his port landscapes and shipping scenes painted in a naïve style. Having no artistic training, he began painting at the age of 70, using househol ...
,
Frances Hodgkins
Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born and raised in New Zealand, but spent most of her working l ...
,
Phelan Gibb
Harry Phelan Gibb (a.k.a. William Phelan "Harry" Gibb) (1870–1948) was a British artist influenced by the work of Paul Cézanne, who exhibited in London, Paris and New York.Buckman, David 998 Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, Art ...
and
David Bomberg
David Garshen Bomberg (5 December 1890 – 19 August 1957) was a British painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.
Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry ...
.
By 1962
the Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
said it was "the most go-ahead municipal gallery of its size in the country". This was mainly because of the purchase of a group of works by modern abstract artists of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1962, the Rector of
Berwick Church gave over 35 studies and sketches for the Berwick Church murals.
As a result of the first curator's ‘Pictures of Sussex’ policy the Towner Collection gradually increased. Pictures were acquired of subjects relating to Sussex. This scheme was later extended to allow inclusion of pictures executed by Sussex artists regardless of subject matter.
![Village Street - Eric Ravilious](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Village_Street_-_Eric_Ravilious.jpg)
A key element of the collection is the work of
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsca ...
, who studied and taught at Eastbourne School of Art. In 1982, the family of the artist deposited on loan an important body of his work. The Towner holds the broadest collection of paintings, illustrations and commercial designs in the world, by this important modern British artist of the early 20th century.
South East Arts Collection of Contemporary Art
As a result of an agreement made in 1983, the Towner houses the South East Arts Collection of Contemporary Art. Further bequests in 1988 and 1990 considerably enhanced the collection, and the commitment to purchasing contemporary art was recognised nationally.
Exhibitions
The Towner Art Gallery's first curator started the practice of arranging temporary exhibitions to be shown alongside displays from the permanent collection which have become a major feature of the Towner's programme.
Learning and community programmes
The Towner Art Gallery works as an educational arts centre, delivering programmes to thousands of people of all ages. In the process, it works with schools, colleges, libraries, museums, health care providers, youth services, universities and community groups.
Annual Schools Exhibition
The Gallery's Annual Schools Exhibition is one of the largest regular displays of artwork by children at schools in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Eastbourne Sunshine Carnival
The Gallery participates in the annual local carnival, running workshops to create artwork with local schools for public display and celebration.
Arts Award
The Gallery offers support for the national Arts Award programme of qualifications, for ages 5 to 25. It has been given 'Good Practice' status by
Trinity College, London
Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...
and
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
, "in recognition of the depth and breadth of creative practice."
Fuse Box
The Gallery has a learning room called Fuse Box, which offers a changing interactive environment designed alongside the temporary exhibitions in the main gallery space.
The Sussex Open
The Gallery holds an annual public competition, accepting submissions from artists in the region, for exhibition and acceptance into the permanent collection. Artists who have previously been first exhibited in this exhibition, have gone on to be selected for John Moore's Painting Prize, the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the
BFI Film Festival in the experimental film category and have been shortlisted for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Prize.
In 2017, the catchment area was expanded to include artists based in
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, as well as
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
where the Gallery is based. Categories for submission cover a range of media:
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
,
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
,
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
and
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
.
See also
*
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
References
External links
Towner Eastbourne's Website— The official gallery's website..
Eastbourne.gov.uk— Towner on Eastbourne Borough Council's website.
{{authority control
Art museums and galleries in East Sussex
Contemporary art galleries in England
Modern art museums
Museums in East Sussex
Buildings and structures in Eastbourne
Art museums established in 1920
1920 establishments in England