Pallant House 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 long ...

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

, 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 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 leadin ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

, John Piper,

Ceri Richards Ceri Giraldus Richards (6 June 1903 – 9 November 1971) was a Welsh painter, print-maker and maker of reliefs. Biography Richards was born in 1903 in the village of Dunvant, near Swansea, the son of Thomas Coslett Richards and Sarah Ri ...

and

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmakin ...

. Hussey stipulated that the collection must be shown in Pallant House. In 1989, Charles Kearley bequeathed works by, among others, British artists such as John Piper and

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

and European artists such as

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered the public domain in the United States. Life and career Early ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, and

Gino Severini Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian Painting, painter and a leading member of the Futurism (art), Futurist movement. For much of his life he divided his time between Paris and Rome. He was associated with neo-classici ...

. In 2006,

Colin St John Wilson Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA, Royal Academy, RA, (14 March 1922 – 14 May 2007) was an English architect, lecturer and author. With his partner MJ Long, Wilson spent over 30 years progressing t ...

donated works by Michael Andrews, Peter Blake,

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 Hen ...

, Patrick Caulfield,

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

, Richard Hamilton,

R. B. Kitaj Ronald Brooks Kitaj (; October 29, 1932 – October 21, 2007) was an American artist who spent much of his life in England. Life He was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States. His Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne ...

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 Luigi Paolozzi was born on 7 M ...

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 ...

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 The Bow porcelain factory (active c. 1747–64 and closed in 1776) was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The two London factories were the first in England. I ...

, donated by Geoffrey Freeman. It later donated the collection to the

Holburne Museum The Holburne Museum (formerly known as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum and the Holburne Museum of Art) is located in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Bath, Somerset, England. The city's first public art gallery, the Grade I listed building, is home to ...

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 The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

to the Pallant, including ''Butterfly'' by

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

The collection

The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by Walter Hussey in 1977, on his retirement from the position as Dean of

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...

which he held from 1955. Hussey's collection included works by

, John Piper,

and

. 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

and European artists such as

, and

. In 2006, architect Sir

donated works by Michael Andrews, Peter Blake,

, Patrick Caulfield,

, Richard Hamilton,

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

, donated by Geoffrey Freeman, but it has since been transferred to the

in Bath.

Exhibitions

From October 2015 to February 2016 the Gallery mounted an exhibition, ''Evelyn Dunbar: The Lost Works''; 500 paintings by

Evelyn Dunbar Evelyn Mary Dunbar (18 December 1906 – 12 May 1960) was a British artist, illustrator and teacher. She is notable for recording women's contributions to World War II on the United Kingdom home front, particularly the work of the Women's Land A ...

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. In 2021, the Gallery mounted an exhibition entitled ''Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit.'' This was the first major exhibition of Glyn Philpot's work since an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 1984. Other exhibitions at Pallant House include

Gwen John Gwendolen ''Gwen'' Mary John (22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939) was a Welsh people, Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her career. Her paintings, mainly portraits of anonymous female sitters, are rendered in a range of closely relat ...

(2023), Sussex Landscape (2022-2023),

Glyn Philpot Glyn Warren Philpot (5 October 188416 December 1937) was a British painter and sculptor, best known for his portraits of contemporary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon and Vladimir Rosing. Early life Philpot was born in Clapham, London, but ...

(2022), Hockney to Himid: 60 Years of British Printmaking (2021-2022), and David Remfry (2015).

Pallant House

Pallant House is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Queen Anne

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

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. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

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. The £8.6 million project was funded by 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 ...

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, 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 Gulbenkian Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The main Gulbenkian Prize was established in 1976 as the Gulbenkian Science Prize awarded to Portuguese individuals and organizations. Starting 2012, th ...

; 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 ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

award. It is believed to be the first art gallery in the UK which is heated and cooled by a

geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

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 uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm s ...

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

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show,Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural So ...

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 Modern art museums Art museums and galleries established in 1982 1982 establishments in England MJ Long buildings Colin St John Wilson buildings