The New Art Gallery Walsall

The New Art Gallery Walsall is a modern and contemporary art gallery located in the town of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. Opened in January 2000, it was built with 21 million pounds of public funding, including 15.75 million pounds from the UK National Lottery and additional contributions from the European Regional Development Fund and City Challenge. The gallery matters as a significant regional cultural institution that combines an internationally recognised architectural landmark with important permanent collections, free public access, and a programme of temporary exhibitions by established and emerging artists. It is funded by Walsall Council and Arts Council England, with income further supplemented by its own commercial activities, and admission remains free.

The gallery's holdings rest on three principal foundations. The Garman Ryan Collection, donated to the people of Walsall in 1973 by Kathleen Garman (Lady Epstein) and her friend Sally Ryan, comprises sculptures and paintings by modern masters with substantial work by Jacob Epstein and significant pieces by European artists. The municipal collection, founded in 1892, ranges from Victorian paintings by Frank Holl and Briton Riviere through to contemporary practitioners. A third strand came through the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection scheme, with works transferring to Walsall Council ownership in 2014 by artists including Gavin Turk, Hew Locke, Mike Nelson, Yoshihiro Suda, Dorothy Cross, Laura Ford, Darren Lago, Estelle Thompson, Richard Woods, Yinka Shonibare and Rose Finn-Kelcey. In 2006, the gallery acquired the Epstein Archive of photographs, manuscripts, sketches and correspondence, and in 2007 it received 1 million pounds through Art Fund International to collect international contemporary art on the theme of the metropolis, acquiring works by Jochem Hendricks, Grazia Toderi, Dynita Singh, Zhang En typeEnli, Christiane Baumgartner, Barry McGee and Nicolas Provost.

The Garman Ryan Collection contains a large selection of work by Jacob Epstein alongside significant pieces by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, J.M.W. Turner, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and John Constable, represented across prints, sketches, drawings, paintings and sculptures. The municipal holdings include Victorian paintings with local interest by Frank Holl and Briton Riviere. Through the Contemporary Art Society scheme, the gallery obtained works by Yinka Shonibare, Gavin Turk and Hew Locke among others. The Art Fund International acquisitions added metropolitan-themed contemporary works by Barry McGee, Zhang Enli and Nicolas Provost. The Epstein Archive, acquired in 2006, contains previously unseen photographs, manuscripts and correspondence that document the sculptor's relationships with family, friends, patrons, buyers and galleries. In 2009, artist Bob and Roberta Smith collaborated with Archive Curator Neil Lebeter to reveal this material to public audiences as part of the Arts Council England initiative New Ways of Curating.

Caruso St John designed the five-storey building after winning an international design competition. The structure is clad in pale terracotta with a floor area of 5,000 square metres, and its interior makes heavy use of concrete and 75 millimetre thick Douglas fir wooden cladding. The public square surrounding the building was designed by Richard Wentworth and Catherine Yass. The stark building attracted over 237,000 visitors in its opening year and was shortlisted for the Stirling Architecture Prize in 2000. Critical reception has been divided: the RIBA described it as almost flawless, Hugh Pearman called it extraordinarily good, yet John Stewart-Young criticised it as an architectural indulgence lacking consideration for public use, and Theodore Dalrymple compared the interior to a fascist foreign ministry and a sauna of gigantic proportions. The building has been viewed as an attempt to encourage local regeneration. Since 2013, the gallery has used the QRpedia system for its artworks.

The New Art Gallery Walsall is located in the centre of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is funded by Walsall Council and Arts Council England, supplemented by income generation, and admission is free. The gallery maintains temporary exhibition galleries on the third and fourth floors dedicated to contemporary and historic art. It has hosted solo exhibitions by numerous artists including Suzanne Treister, Mark Titchner, Toby Ziegler, Conrad Shawcross, Joana Vasconcelos, Zarina Bhimji, Christopher Le Brun, Gordon Cheung, Layla Curtis, Anna Barriball, Adam Dant, Gavin Turk and Jonathan Yeo. Between 2012 and 2013, it presented the first year-long display of Damien Hirst works as part of ARTIST ROOMS on Tour in partnership with Tate. The inaugural exhibition Blue featured Anish Kapoor, Glen Brown, Barbara Hepworth and Bridget Riley. The 2009 exhibition Re-Imagining Asia explored the meaning of contemporary Asian art in the context of globalisation and migration. The 2011 exhibition The Life of The Mind: Love, Sorrow and Obsession, curated by Bob and Roberta Smith, included key works by Sarah Lucas, Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin and Yayoi Kusama.