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Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate

The Mercer Art Gallery is home to Harrogate district's fine art collection which consists of some 2000 works of art, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes works by William Powell Frith, Atkinson Grimshaw, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dame Laura Knight, Alan Davie and many more. The collection is not on permanent display. Paintings, prints and drawings from it are featured in our lively and diverse exhibition programme throughout the year.

The gallery has two spaces, the Main Gallery and the smaller North Gallery. The changing exhibition programme for both galleries ranges from national touring exhibitions of painting, photography, sculpture and crafts to exhibitions from the permanent collections to displays by local artists.

The Harrogate Open 2008

26 July - 7 September 2008

Download the entry information

Download the entry form

Current exhibitions

Victorian Artists in Photographs: Selections from the Rob Dickins Collection, the Watts Gallery

26 April - 13 July

A remarkable exhibition of photographs of the Victorian art world, many exhibited for the first time.

These include images of the leading artists of the day and their studios, including:

•  Edward Burne-Jones
• George Cruickshank
• William Holman Hunt
• Frederic Lord Leighton
• John Everett Millais
• William Morris
• Dante Gabrielle Rossetti
• The artists' models, wives and families.

It also includes rare images of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the principal cultural figures of the day such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens and John Ruskin. The exhibition promises to bring GF Watts' world and artistic circle to life.

In an age that is so fascinated with celebrities, we should easily understand the Victorian interest in their own celebrities. The eagerness to see images of our heroes and heroines, to find information about their homes and lifestyle, was shared by our counterparts in the nineteenth century. At a time when art reached a wide audience and was supremely popular, artists were seen as celebrities and the photographs in the exhibition grew from that passion.

The exhibition is selected from the gift of some 4500 Victorian photographs given by Rob Dickins CBE to Watts Gallery. Dickins is a Trustee of the Watts Gallery and the V&A but is best known as the Chairman of Warner Music UK from 1983-98 where he signed The Sex Pistols, Madness, Simply Red, Enya and Cher.

Dickins says of the Victorian artists captured in his collection:

"...with their interest in sex, drugs and art, I think their lives were very rock'n'roll."

 

Talks on the Victorian Artists in Photographs exhibition

 

The Royal Hall, Harrogate

19 April - 13 July

 

An exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings related to the work of theatre designer Frank Matcham and Harrogate's Royal Hall, to celebrate its recent refurbishment (re-opening late April).

 

Originally known as Harrogate's Kursaal, the building was completed in 1903 and provided entertainment for the rich and famous visiting Harrogate to take the waters from the strongest sulphur well in Europe (visit the well at the Royal Pump Room Museum).

 

It was renamed the "Royal Hall" following the wave of anti-German sentiment which swept the country after the Great War.

 

The building was designed by Frank Matcham, Britain's greatest theatre designer, and his architect Robert Beale. It is inspired by the great ballrooms of Imperial Europe and has many fascinating features.

 

Find out more from the Royal Hall Restoration Trust.

 

 

 

 

Find out what's on next.

 

Find out about events at the gallery

 

Interested in hiring the gallery for a private group visit? Find out more

Blockbuster show: William Powell Frith - Painting the Victorian Age

Missed our biggest ever show?  You can still find out a bit about Harrogate's most famous artist and see some images of his paintings.

Find out more about William Powell Frith