Biography
Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, part of Nottingham City Museums & Galleries, is housed in a ducal mansion built on the site of a medieval castle, built by William the Conqueror. The museum was initiated in 1867 when the Nottingham Naturalists group donated a number of works to the city. The gallery opened to the public in 1878 and was the first provincial art museum in the country. Following a £30million redevelopment project Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery re-opened in Spring 2021.
The collection includes British and European paintings from the 11th-century to the present, with a section on Nottingham landscapes. Works by local artists including Paul Sandby, Richard Parkes Bonington and Laura Knight make a strong contribution to the museum's collection.
Contemporary works focus on photography, displaying pieces by Yinka Shonibare, Craigie Horsfield and the recent purchase made thanks to the Art Fund, a new photograph Escape Artist (Multicoloured) by Sam Taylor-Wood. The craft collection focuses on textiles. This relates to the city's great industrial past, producing fabric, embroidery and lace. Contemporary additions to the collection include pieces by Liz Rideal, Grayson Perry and Lucy Brown that expand upon its history. The Contemporary Art Society recently gifted a piece by the ceramicist Edmund de Waal and sereis of 11 photographs by the South African activist Zanele Muholi from its Collections Fund at Frieze Scheme, in 2019.
