York Art Gallery in York, North Yorkshire, England is a public art gallery with a collection of paintings, from 14th century to contemporary, and 20th-century ceramics. It is managed by York Museums Trust, along with York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire museum and gardens.
The building was built for the second Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition in 1879, and it became the City Art Gallery in 1892. The main gallery was refurbished in 2005, and is used for special and visiting exhibitions. The building is Grade II listed and overlooks Exhibition Square, which has a 1911 statue of William Etty at its centre.
It is said (Fisher, ISBN 071399575, p. 413) to have been founded with a bequest from John Burton, a local businessman. Burton's taste was for 19th-century painters such as Frederick Daniel Hardy. The gallery also inherited "Bustos and Images" from Kirkleatham Museum.
The same author says that "the story of York Art Gallery under Hess, Ingemells and Green is proof that given high standards of scholarship, a love for good painting and curators who have confidence in their judgement, a gallery can prosper. At York the priorities have been right. The gallery glows with the idiosyncratic excellence of the paintings on its walls".
Since 1911 the gallery has been collecting works by York-born painter William Etty.
The right wing (when facing) is home to the York City Archives.
On 1 January 2013, the art gallery closed for redevelopments which will be completed by Easter 2015. The gallery's floor space will increase by 60%. The entire project is estimated to cost £8 million.
Read more about York Art Gallery: Sculptures, Curators and Directors
Famous quotes containing the words york, art and/or gallery:
“To deny the need for comprehensive child care policies is to deny a reality—that there’s been a revolution in American life. Grandma doesn’t live next door anymore, Mom doesn’t work just because she’d like a few bucks for the sugar bowl.”
—Editorial, The New York Times (September 6, 1983)
“In one sense it is evident that the art of kingship does include the art of lawmaking. But the political ideal is not full authority for laws but rather full authority for a man who understands the art of kingship and has kingly ability.”
—Plato (428–348 B.C.)
“I should like to have seen a gallery of coronation beauties, at Westminster Abbey, confronted for a moment by this band of Island girls; their stiffness, formality, and affectation contrasted with the artless vivacity and unconcealed natural graces of these savage maidens. It would be the Venus de’ Medici placed beside a milliner’s doll.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)