For two centuries, this proud institution has mixed the best of Manchester's artists with fine examples of work from around Britain – and the world.
Manchester Art Gallery is the city's premier focus for artistic endeavours. And it isn't just one building – in fact it's now three. With 25,000 exhibits – covering paintings and glassware, sculptures and silverware, photographs and dolls houses – it really needed the space. It has expanded from its original neoclassical Victorian gallery, on Mosley Street, to include the adjacent Italian-style Athenaeum, linked by a glass atrium. And while its coverage remains broad, Manchester Art Gallery has kept its focus: fine arts, and especially the paintings of English Impressionists and Pre-Raphaelites remain prominent.The Gallery was established in 1824, just as the city was gathering steam, and developing into one of the major metropolises of the United Kingdom. It wanted to show it had culture as well as wealth, and in 1824, the refined 'Greek temple' of the Royal Manchester Institution became Manchester's centre of art. The collection that was built up pulled in many of the new artistic ideas of the late 19th century – Manchester wasn't afraid to embrace both Impressionism, and the romantic medieval ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. You'll find paintings by Cézanne and Renoir, alongside those of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. The murky smog of Manchester's industrial districts inspired a very Mancunian sort of impressionism, in the works of Pierre Adolphe Valette. Although French, he lived in Manchester, and painted it with a passion. He also trained and inspired local painter L. S. Lowry, who made the painting of the city's industrial landscape his own. Both artists’ works feature prominently here.As well as paintings, you'll find a fascinating gallery covering Craft and Design in its many forms – textiles, furniture, toys, and decorative wares, ranging across 1,000 years of history. There is, naturally, a big emphasis on the role Manchester's booming cotton mills had in forwarding clothing design and fashion. Early English slip-ware, and the intricate and elegant artistry of 17th century silver-ware are also covered. And the Gallery doesn't forget modern and contemporary art, with some daring pieces pushing at the boundaries. Without doubt, those founding fathers of the Gallery, looking forward two centuries to today's collection, would agree that Manchester's cultural reputation has been proudly advanced.
