Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum is a public art museum in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa. Opened on 22 June 1956 as the King George VI Art Gallery, it was renamed in December 2002 to honour Nelson Mandela and to align with the newly formed Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. Housed in two buildings at the entrance to St George's Park, the museum holds significant collections of South African art with particular emphasis on the Eastern Cape, alongside British art, international printmaking, and Oriental art. It functions as both a keeper of permanent collections and an active exhibition venue within the municipal structure.

The museum was founded by the Port Elizabeth city administration and opened on 22 June 1956. From 1960 to 2007 it was governed by an independent board of trustees, formally constituted on 1 January 1961 following a city council resolution of 28 July 1960. The renaming process began after the December 2002 council decision to adopt the Nelson Mandela name, which initiated prolonged negotiations between the board and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality regarding the museum's metropolitan role. The museum is now integrated into the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

The collections are organised into nine distinct areas. The Africana 1800-1900 section contains oil paintings, works on paper, and prints from 1790 to 1890, largely assembled by the city administration before 1956, documenting Port Elizabeth and its early inhabitants. Eastern Cape art represents the largest holding of its kind outside the Ann Bryant Gallery in East London and the University of Fort Hare. The beadwork collection encompasses art and craft of the southern Nguni peoples, including textiles, pottery, and leatherwork. Contemporary South African art across all media is actively acquired, with special attention to Eastern Cape artists working in digital and new media, supported by a biennial competition and prize. South African art of national significance, studio ceramics, international prints from France, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and elsewhere, British art from the 17th to 20th centuries, and textiles from the Chinese Qing Dynasty complete the holdings.

The Africana collection features works by Frederick Timpson I'Ons, one of South Africa's first professional artists, together with Port Elizabeth-related works by Thomas Baines, prints by Thomas Bowler, and early depictions of the city by residents and visitors. The Eastern Cape collection includes works by Frank Pickford Marriott, Dorothy Kay, Betsy Fordyce, Fred Page, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Joan Wright, Phil Kolbe, Alexander Podlashuc, George Pemba, Hilary Graham, Robert Brooks, Tom Matthews, Derrick Erasmus, and Trevor Melville. The ceramics collection holds works by Hylton Nel, Linnware, Kalahari Studios, Charmaine Haines, Meshak Masuku, Maggie Mikula, and Lynnley Watson. British art highlights include works by Norman Blamey, Robert Bevan, Charles Isaac Ginner, L.S. Lowry, Robert Burra, and Christopher Wood. The Qing Dynasty textile collection, established in 1990, comprises costumes, wall hangings, and embroideries.

The museum occupies two buildings that define the entrance to St George's Park in Gqeberha. These structures contain three exhibition halls that are rehanged throughout the year to display rotating selections from the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. The limited gallery space necessitates rotating the permanent collection rather than displaying it in full at any one time.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum is located in St George's Park in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and maintains an active exhibition programme including travelling exhibitions between major South African art museums. In 2022, the museum hosted the 'True Pan-Africanism' exhibition by Farook Mohammed as part of the Inaugural Nelson Mandela Bay Arts Festival, which explored themes of unity, shared identity, and peaceful continental futures through the concept of Ubuntu. The museum's website is http://www.artmuseum.co.za/.