Fountain and entrance to Central Library and Art Gallery, Southampton Civic Centre - geograph

The Southampton City Art Gallery is an

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 ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, southern

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 ...

. It is located in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road. The gallery opened in 1939 with much of the initial funding from the gallery coming from two bequests, one from Robert Chipperfield and another from Frederick William Smith. The gallery was damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and repairing this damaged delayed its reopening until 1946. The gallery's art collection covers six centuries of

European art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleo ...

history, with over 5,300 works in its fine art collection. It is housed in an example of 1930s municipal architecture. The gallery holds a

Designated Collection The Designation Scheme is an English system that awards "Designated status" to museum, library and archive collections of national and international importance. The Scheme is administered by Arts Council England (ACE). As of 2020, 152 collections ...

, considered of national importance.Southampton City Art Gallery
, Culture 24, UK. Highlights of the permanent collection include a 14th-century altarpiece by

Allegretto Nuzi Allegretto Nuzi or ''Allegretto di Nuzio'' (1315–1373) was an Italian painter, active in a Gothic style mainly around Fabriano, in the Province of Ancona. Biography Nuzi was probably trained in Fabriano Fabriano is a town and '' comune'' of A ...

, of the Italian

Giambattista Pittoni Giambattista Pittoni or Giovanni Battista Pittoni (6 June 1687 – 6 November 1767) was a Venetian painter of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He was among the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, of which in 1758 he became the ...

; the Perseus series by Burne-Jones; paintings by the

Camden Town Group The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists founded in 1911 and active until 1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London. History In 1908, critic Frank ...

and

The London Group The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was form ...

; sculpture by

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produce ...

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Printmaking, prints ...

Henri Gaudier Brzeska Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving. Biography Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910 ...

, Richard Deacon and

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

; and Richard Long photographs.

Changes to the Art Gallery

In November 2012, it was announced that the gallery's opening times were likely to be significantly reduced, as part of

Southampton City Council Southampton City Council is the local authority of the city of Southampton. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including c ...

's drive to save £20 million. On 1 April 2013, the art gallery's opening times changed to the following times: * Monday-Friday: 10am-3pm * Saturday: 10am-5pm * Sunday: Closed

References

External links

*
Southampton City Council: Museums
{{Authority control Government buildings completed in the 20th century Art museums and galleries in Hampshire Museums in Southampton Buildings and structures in the United Kingdom destroyed during World War II Art museums established in 1939 1939 establishments in England