York Art Gallery
York Art Gallery
The York Art Gallery in York boasts the largest collection of British Studio Ceramics in the country in its Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA).
History
The York Art Gallery opened in 1879 as a venue for the second Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition of that year.
The gallery was built in the grounds of the former Abbey of St. Mary's which is now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens and the home of the Yorkshire Museum.
The classical facade of the building is decorated with two tiled panels representing artists Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and various York-born artists such as the musician John Camidge, architect John Carr the designer of Harewood House and Buxton Crescent and the sculptor John Flaxman.
The statue in the square at the front of the building is of the painter William Etty (1787-1849).
The museum was closed and fully restored between 2013 and 2015.
Exhibits
The gallery holds over 1,000 paintings of mainly Western art including works by Italian, Dutch and French painters ranging from 14th century Italian altarpieces to the French Impressionists.
British art is represented by paintings and drawings by such artists as William Etty, Walter Sickert and J. M. W. Turner, as well as the more contemporary L. S. Lowry and Ben Nicholson.
The Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) has works by Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Lucie Rie and Michael Casson.
The Artist's Garden is an exhibition space run by the gallery within the adjacent Museum Gardens which stages regular shows.
Some highlights of the gallery include an 18th century Automaton Clock, ceramics from the Yorkshire potteries with pieces also from China and Korea.
The Works on Paper collection has over 17,000 drawings, prints and water colours by local artists such as Henry Cave, John Harper and John Browne.
The gallery also features temporary exhibitions.
Information & Hours
York Art Gallery
Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EW
01904 687687
www: yorkartgallery.org.uk
Hours: Open daily: 10 am - 5 pm; closed: 25, 26 December and 1 January with early closing at 2.30 pm on 24 and 31 December.
Adults: 8 GBP.
Visitors can enjoy refreshments at the gallery's popular Sketch café. The gallery shop sells art-related books, postcards and catalogues.
Access - Getting to York
York Station, just outside the city walls, is York's main station with trains to Manchester Piccadilly, London King's Cross, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Durham, Inverness and Newcastle.
There are CrossCountry trains to Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Berwick-on-Tweed, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Dundee and Aberdeen.
Services south on CrossCountry include trains to Leeds, Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth, Penzance, Reading and Southampton.
First TransPennine Express has services to Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street as well as Scarborough, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle Central.
Northern Rail has rail connections to Knaresborough, Harrogate and Leeds, Bradford Interchange, Halifax, Blackburn, Preston, Blackpool North Selby and Hull Paragon as well as infrequent trains to Sheffield.
Long distance National Express buses run nationwide from the bus station in Rougier Street, a short walk north of York Station.
York Related
Other places of interest in York include York Minster, Guy Fawkes birthplace (now the Guy Fawkes Inn), The Shambles, Monk's Bar, the National Railway Museum, the city walls, Jorvik Viking Centre and Cliffords Tower. Standing outside the cathedral is a Roman column, believed to be part of the building where Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of Rome in 306 AD.
Yorkshire Attractions
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