Wolverhampton Art Gallery
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Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
, in the
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
,
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 ...
. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal authority. It opened in May 1884.


The building

The two-storey building of Wolverhampton Art Gallery was designed by prominent
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
architect Julius Chatwin (1829–1907). It was built of
Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
, an Oolitic
Limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
from
Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
, with six red granite columns indicating the main entrance. The decorative sculptural frieze on the facade is composed of sixteen characters representing the Arts and Crafts, including sculpture, painting, architecture, pottery, glassblowing, and wrought-iron work. It is a
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
building. In 2006–07 the building was refurbished by Purcell, partly modernized and extended to create additional exhibition spaces.


The collection

The most outstanding artwork of international importance in the collection is the large-scale painting ''Peace and Plenty Binding the Arrows of War'' (1614) by the Flemish Baroque painter
Abraham Janssens Abraham Janssens I, Abraham Janssen I or Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen (1575–1632) was a Flemish painter, who is known principally for his large religious and mythological works, which show the influence of Caravaggio. He was the leading hist ...
van Nuyssen (ca. 1567/1576–1632). Commissioned and paid for by the Antwerp Guild of Old Crossbowmen, it was a pendant to the Rubens’s ''Crowning of the Victor''. In the 1800s, the city's guilds were broken up and their treasures dispersed. Janssen's picture eventually found its way to a Mrs Thornley of Birmingham. In 1885, she sold it to Wolverhampton Art Gallery. This is the only painting by Janssens in British public collections and a splendid example of Flemish Baroque art. Apart from the Janssens painting, the collection of Old Masters is relatively small. It includes a version of ''A Spinner's Grace'' by
Gerard Dou Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his ' ...
and ''Bouquet of Flowers'' by
Jan van Huysum Jan van Huysum (or Jan van Huijsum) (15 April 1682 – 8 February 1749) is the most notable member of the Van Huysum family of artists working in Dutch Golden Age of the 17th and 18th centuries; “by common consent, Jan van Huysum has been held ...
. There is a collection of Old Master drawings, which includes graphic work by
Wenceslas Hollar Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as . He is particu ...
and
Alessandro Allori Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (Florence, 31 May 153522 September 1607) was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school. Biography In 1540, after the death of his father, Allori was brought up and train ...
. A significant part of the gallery's collection was formed from bequests and gifts given by local benefactors and patrons of art. These include those from the tin-toy manufacturer Sidney Cartwright (1802–1883), Philip Horsman and hardware manufacturer Paul Lutz (1832–1899). They mainly collected contemporary and early 19th-century British art and today the holdings of the gallery are still particularly strong in artworks from the Victorian period. In the 1920s-1950s, a large number of artworks by
Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...
(1867–1956) were given to the gallery by the artist himself, and by his friend and member of Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Public Library Committee Matthew Biggar Walker (1873–1950). In 1924, a significant collection of Eastern weapons was secured. During the first decades of the 20th century many specimens of Eastern applied art and British and Eastern ceramics and glass were given to the gallery by the members of the prominent local Bantock family and several other collectors. The museum has a collection of 114 historic ''
tsuba Japanese sword mountings are the various housings and associated fittings ('' tosogu'') that hold the blade of a Japanese sword when it is being worn or stored. refers to the ornate mountings of a Japanese sword (e.g. ''katana'') used when the ...
'' from
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Items in the collection range from the
Momoyama period Momoyama may refer to: History *Azuchi–Momoyama period, the final phase of the Sengoku period in Japanese history 1568–1600 People * Ion Momoyama, Japanese singer and voice actor * Momoyama Kenichi (1909–1991), Korean prince and cavalry offi ...
(16th century) to the end of the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
(19th century). The ''tsuba'' were part of a wider collection of weapons and sword guards donated by
councilor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
Davis Green in October 1924. Originally the collection belonged to a Mr. C.E.F. Griffiths and was loaned to the gallery. The collection was reclaimed by the family, it is presumed that Mr. Griffiths died, and put it up for auction at Dudley Auction Rooms. Councilor Green bought the whole collection for £350 and donated it to the gallery. The gallery has substantial collection of japanned ware and Bilston enamels. These collections represent trades and manufactures for which Wolverhampton was famous in the 18th and 19th centuries. The purposeful collecting policy of the 1970s brought to the gallery a number of high-quality artworks by leading British artists of the 18th-century Georgian period. The gallery has strong holdings of artworks by local artists, such as John Fullwood (1854–1931), Joseph Vickers de Ville (1856–1925),
George Phoenix George Phoenix (1863–1935) was a British (Victorian/Edwardian) landscape, figurative and portrait artist and sculptor. He regularly exhibited his works in his native Wolverhampton and nationally. They are represented at Wolverhampton Art Galle ...
(1863–1935), Alfred Egerton Cooper (1883–1974). In 1990s, following the re-structure of museum services across the area, the art and local history collections of the Bilston Museum and Art Gallery (now Bilston Craft Gallery) were transferred to Wolverhampton. They brought to the gallery artworks by Edwin Butler Bayliss (1874–1950), another local painter of the industrial landscape of the Black Country. Since the late 1960s, Wolverhampton Art Gallery has been amassing a substantial collection of pop art. A special feature of the gallery is the collection of artworks which document and analyse the time of Troubles in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. At present, the gallery's collection consists of about 12,000 artefacts: oil paintings and works on paper from 17th-20th centuries; collection of Eastern objects of applied art; japanned ware; enamels; ceramics and glass; dolls and toys; and local history. Dr John Fraser's collection of geological specimens has also been preserved at the gallery.


Permanent displays

A selection of objects from the collection are on permanent show in several display rooms.


The Georgian room

Paintings by the 18th-century artists from the gallery's collection include ''Portrait of the Lee Family'' by
Joseph Highmore Joseph Highmore (13 June 1692 – 3 March 1780) was an England, English painter of Portrait painting, portraits, conversation pieces and History painting, history subjects, illustrator and author. After retiring from his career as a painter ...
, ''
The Provoked Wife ''The Provoked Wife'' (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy ''The Provoked Wife'' in th ...
'' by Johann Zoffany, ''Portrait of Erasmus Darwin'' (1792) by
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 ...
, ''Apotheosis of Penelope Boothby'' by
Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...
, and ''Arrival of Louis XVIII at Calais'' by Wolverhampton-born
Edward Bird Edward Bird (1772 – 2 November 1819) was an English Genre works, genre painter who spent most of his working life in Bristol, where the Bristol School of artists formed around him. He enjoyed a few years of popularity in London, where h ...
.
Portrait miniatures A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century el ...
, Bilston enamels depicting famous actors of the era, and some examples of the 18th-century Eastern and British ceramics are on display.


The Victorian rooms

The display in the two Victorian rooms present British 19th-century art in its relation with wider world. It includes landscapes by Henry Mark Anthony, David Cox,
James Baker Pyne James Baker Pyne (5 December 1800 – 29 July 1870) was an English landscape painter who became a successful follower of Turner, after having been in his earlier years a member of the Bristol School of artists and a follower of Francis Dan ...
,
David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...
, narrative paintings by the
Cranbrook Colony The Cranbrook Colony was a group of artists who settled in Cranbrook, Kent from 1853 onwards and were inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painters. They have been referred to as 'genre' painters as they tended to paint scenes of the ...
artists, religious paintings by
Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
artist
Frederic Shields Frederic James Shields (14 March 1833 – 26 February 1911) was a British artist, illustrator, and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown. Early years Frederic James Shields ...
, japanned ware by local manufacturers which were shown at
The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...
, examples of local Myatt pottery, and Eastern objects - Chinese ceramics and mirror paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, Indian pottery and weapons, Persian metalware - collected by local people.


Pop art

The pop art gallery is a retro-themed, interactive space which allows visitors to explore the world of pop art with its vibrant mix of popular culture, social commentary, nostalgia, kitsch and celebrity. The contents of the gallery change approximately every six months to reflect a different theme found within the pop art movement. The display has contained works by influential pop artists
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
, Peter Blake,
Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...
,
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
,
Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...
,
Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March 1 ...
and
Derek Boshier Derek Boshier (born 1937, in Portsmouth) is an English artist, among the first proponents of British pop art. Greene, Alison de Lima (2000). Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. New York, New Y ...
.


The Northern Ireland collection

The permanent display of the Northern Ireland Collection considers the role of visual artists in depicting and presenting the country's contested past and future. Artists represented in the Northern Ireland collection include
Willie Doherty Willie Doherty (born 1959) is an artist from Northern Ireland, who has mainly worked in photography and video. He has twice been a Turner Prize nominee. Life and work Doherty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and from 1978 to 1981 studied a ...
, Jock McFadyen,
Rita Duffy Rita Duffy (born 1959) is a Northern Ireland artist, described in 2005 as the province's "foremost artist". She describes herself as a Republican, pacifist and feminist. Her installations and projects often highlight socio-political issues and ...
, John Keane, Siobhan Hapaska and
Robert Priseman Robert Priseman (born in Spondon, Derbyshire in 1965) is a British artist, collector, writer, curator and publisher who lives and works in Essex, England. Over 200 works of art by Priseman are held in art museum collections around the world in ...
. Highlights from Wolverhampton Art Gallery collection are shown alongside borrowed exhibits that offer different perspectives on the history of the conflict and its resolution.


The Makers Dozen Studios

The Makers Dozen Studios is a complex of workshop spaces for artists and makers in the West Midlands. It reflects the fact that for several decades following the founding of the gallery, Wolverhampton's School of Art and Art Gallery were under the same roof. The studios are based on Wulfruna Street and are adjoined by the new extension at the gallery uniting the studios with the original Victorian building.


Education and access

The Georgian Gallery contains a number of specially-commissioned pieces of furniture in the Georgian style which provide a hands-on exploration of key themes of the period, from scientific discoveries to the events of the theatrical world, and offer a flavour of life in the 18th century. The display ''Sensing Sculpture'' encourages visitors to touch, smell and listen as well as look at the works on display. Many of the sculptures come from Wolverhampton Art Gallery collection; some are on loan from their makers while others have been specially commissioned for the gallery.
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
interpretation is provided throughout the gallery, and visitors are encouraged to learn some Braille during their visit.


Other venues

At present, Wolverhampton Art Gallery forms a main part of Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Services, along with Bantock House and Bilston Craft Gallery.


References


External links


Google Virtual Tour of Wolverhampton Art GalleryWolverhampton Art Gallery websiteBrowse Wolverhampton Art Gallery's collection
*
Alfred Egerton Cooper & Winston Churchill - UK Parliament Living Heritage
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in the West Midlands (county) Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Decorative arts museums in England Museums in Wolverhampton Art museums established in 1884 1884 establishments in England