Biography
Bury Art Museum is a distinctive Edwardian building which opened in 1901 was built to house the Wrigley Collection of Art of over 200 oil paintings, watercolours, prints and ceramics which was donated to the city by the local paper manufacturer Thomas Wrigley (1808-1880) in 1897. Bury Art Museum, extended below the art gallery in 1907 is located in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and has a strong collection of 19th-century work, including notable landscape paintings by Turner, Landseer, Constable and Clausen. Bury’s focus on 19th-century work has left the modern collection rather sparse; however there are memorable works by John Armstong, Edward Burra, Victor Pasmore, Edward Burra and Patrick Procktor.
At present Bury Art Museum is actively purchasing contemporary work and collecting pieces relevant to the area's history, having recently acquired a lithograph by David Hockney of the Bury-born designer, Celia Birtwell. Bury has also been working closely with International 3 art gallery in Manchester, purchasing contemporary works by Rachel Goodyear and Pat Flynn as well as Gillian Ayres. A recent acquisition through the Contemporary Art Society is a video by the Malawi-born Samson Kambalu, Moses (Burning Bush), 2015. The display of the permanent collection changes intermittently as themed exhibitions draw upon different works. The gallery actively brings out work from its stores to complement programmed talks and events. Bury Art Museum also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions of both historical and contemporary work.
