Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th-century British art in the world.

History

The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by

Walter Hussey John Walter Atherton Hussey (15 May 1909 – 25 July 1985) was an English priest of the Church of England who had a great fondness for the arts, commissioning a number of musical compositions and visual art for the church as well as amassing h ...

in 1977, which included works by

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...

, Henry Moore, John Piper, Ceri Richards and Graham Sutherland. Hussey stipulated that the collection must be shown in Pallant House. In 1989, Charles Kearley donated works by British artists such as John Piper and Ben Nicholson and European artists such as

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. Biography Early years Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. In ...

, Fernand Léger, and Gino Severini. In 2006,

Colin St John Wilson Sir Colin Alexander St John ("Sandy") Wilson, FRIBA, RA, (14 March 1922 – 14 May 2007) was an English architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned t ...

donated works by Michael Andrews, Peter Blake, David Bomberg, Patrick Caulfield, Lucian Freud, Richard Hamilton, R. B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Walter Sickert and

Victor Willing Victor Arthur James Willing (15 January 1928 – 1 June 1988) was a British painter, noted for his original nude studies. He was a friend and colleague of many notable artists, including Elisabeth Frink, Michael Andrews and Francis Bacon. He ...

. In 2002 the Gallery received a collection of 18th-century Bow porcelain, donated by Geoffrey Freeman. It later donated the collection to the Holburne Museum in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

as part of a deaccession programme approved by the Trustees of Pallant House Gallery in 2020. In 2018, Frank and Lorna Dunphy gave six works by Young British Artists to the Pallant, including ''Butterfly'' by Damien Hirst.

The collection

The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by

in 1977, on his retirement from the position as Dean of Chichester Cathedral which he held from 1955. Hussey's collection included works by

, Henry Moore, John Piper, Ceri Richards and Graham Sutherland. Hussey stipulated that the collection must be shown in Pallant House. The Gallery's collection has been augmented by other donations. In 1989, property developer Charles Kearley donated works by British artists such as John Piper and Ben Nicholson and European artists such as

, Fernand Léger, and Gino Severini. In 2006, architect Sir

donated works by Michael Andrews, Peter Blake, David Bomberg, Patrick Caulfield, Lucian Freud, Richard Hamilton, R. B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Walter Sickert and

. Many of the works were acquired directly from the artists, who were friends of Wilson: indeed, he designed homes for several. Other works are displayed on long-term loan, many on the understanding that they will be donated to the gallery in due course. As well as modern British art, the Gallery had one of the world's outstanding collections of 18th-century Bow porcelain, donated by Geoffrey Freeman, but it has since been transferred to the Holburne Museum in Bath.

Exhibitions

From October 2015 to February 2016 the Gallery mounted an exhibition, ''Evelyn Dunbar: The Lost Works''; 500 paintings by Evelyn Dunbar that had disappeared after her death in 1960 and rediscovered in 2013, doubling the number of her known works. In 2016, the Gallery mounted an exhibition entitled ''John Piper: The Fabric of Modernism'' of Piper's textile designs.

Pallant House

Pallant House is a Grade I listed Queen Anne townhouse built in 1712 for wine merchant Henry "Lisbon" Peckham and his wife Elizabeth. It is a fine, brick-built building with large windows, with stone

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...

es from the Peckham family arms guarding the entrance gateway, and a fine oak staircase inside. Its urbane design from a London architect was the subject of a suit in Chancery, for William Smart, mason of Chichester, provided a design about 1711, but the Peckhams went to London and obtained another design, designated "the London modell" in court papers. The architect was not identified. The building had been used as council offices since 1919. The building was restored in 1979, and the gallery opened in 1982. It has been managed by an independent trust since 1985. A new wing was opened in June 2006, designed by Sir Colin Wilson and

Long & Kentish Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

. The £8.6 million project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, the local council, and other donors. The unashamedly modern block, which stands next to and integrates with the original Queen Anne building, won the 2007 Gulbenkian Prize; in the words of the judges, the juxtaposition creates "a vibrant relationship between old and new ... continued in a series of inspired contemporary installations" which are housed within.Pallant House Gallery wins £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize
, press release, 25 May 2007. The extension was also listed for a 2007 RIBA award. It is believed to be the first art gallery in the UK which is heated and cooled by a geothermal system, using water pumped through 69 pipes descending 35 metres under the building, connected to reversible

heat pump A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing ...

s, which roughly halves its carbon emissions. To the rear is a new courtyard garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole, a Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist.

Notes

External links

* {{authority control Art museums and galleries in West Sussex Chichester Buildings and structures in West Sussex Tourist attractions in Chichester Museums in West Sussex Modern art museums Art museums established in 1982 1982 establishments in England MJ Long buildings Colin St John Wilson buildings