New Art Gallery, Walsall, West Midlands. Free entry

Details

Accessibility

2025: "We aim to be as accessible and inclusive as possible for our visitors. We are constantly learning and making improvements, and value feedback and suggestions.

Our friendly Front of House team are always available to ensure you get the most from your visit. Just ask at Reception (Ground Floor) if you need any assistance, or talk to a member of staff in the gallery spaces if you would like to find out more about the works on display.

• The Gallery is accessible from street level and has automatic doors
• Reception is located on the ground floor. The Gallery team are always available if you need any help
• There is lift access to all floors
• There are benches throughout the building and you can also borrow a lightweight folding seat
• The Gallery also has two manual wheelchairs available for visitors. Please ask at reception or contact us in advance to book.
• Alternative versions of our printed materials are available on request
• There are three accessible toilets – located on the Ground Floor, Floor 1 and Floor 4.
• The Gallery has staff who are trained in supporting visitors with Autism, Dementia and Visual Impairments.
• Assistance Dogs are welcome in all areas of the Gallery, and water is available on request.
• There are several Blue Badge parking bays adjacent to the Gallery, leading from Marsh Street.
• A baby change facility is available in the accessible toilet located on the Ground Floor
• The New Art Gallery Walsall is a breast-feeding friendly venue.

Please get in touch if you have any specific queries about accessibility or would like more information to support your visit."

Brief description

https://artuk.org/visit/venues/the-new-art-gallery-walsall-3681

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garman_Ryan_Collection

2024; "The Garman Ryan Collection is a permanent collection of art works housed at The New Art Gallery Walsall and comprises 365 works of art, including prints, sketches, sculptures, drawings and paintings collected by Kathleen Garman (later wife of the sculptor Jacob Epstein) and lifelong friend Sally Ryan.

The Garman Ryan collection features many examples of works by key European artists of late 19th and early 20th Century, including Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Turner and Degas. There are a high number of works on paper within the collection and a number of sketches relating to major works by European artists, such as Delacroix's charcoal sketch of a New Born Lamb. It also includes a selection of sculpture, vessels and votive objects from cultures in Africa, Asia and South America. There are a significant number of works by Jacob Epstein within the collection. The collection contains the largest single holding of works by Jacob Epstein anywhere. Many of these works are bronze portrait busts, a mix of family members and commissioned portraits. There are also studies for key works, such as Study for Rock Drill."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Art_Gallery_Walsall

2025: "The New Art Gallery Walsall is a modern and contemporary art gallery in the town of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. It was built with £21 million of public funding, including £15.75 million from the UK National Lottery and additional money from the European Regional Development Fund and City Challenge.[1][2][3]

The Gallery is funded by Walsall Council and Arts Council England;[4] this funding is further supplemented by its own income generation. Admission is free.[5] Its first Director was Peter Jenkinson. In May 2005, former BALTIC director Stephen Snoddy was appointed as director.

Designed by the architects Caruso St John after winning an international design competition, it opened in January 2000, replacing the town's old gallery and an arts centre that had been closed by the council almost a decade earlier.[6] It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 May 2000, during her visit to the West Midlands.[7] The New Art Gallery's stark building won several architectural awards and attracted over 237,000 visitors in its opening year.[8] In 2000, the gallery was shortlisted for the prestigious Stirling Architecture Prize.[9][10]

The five-story building is clad in pale terracotta and has a floor area of 5,000 square metres (53,820 sq ft).[11] The interior of the Gallery features a heavy use of concrete and 75mm thick douglas fir wooden cladding.[12] The public square surrounding the building was designed by Richard Wentworth and Catherine Yass.[1]

The Gallery has been seen as an attempt to encourage regeneration in the local area.[13][14] The architecture has been both praised and criticised, described as "almost flawless"[10] by the RIBA and "extraordinarily good" by Hugh Pearman[6] but also castigated by John Stewart-Young as an "architectural indulgence", an impressive building that lacks consideration of how the wider public will use it.[15] The essayist Theodore Dalrymple described the interior as resembling both "a fascist foreign ministry" and "a sauna of gigantic proportions".[16]

There have been a number of minor alterations to the building since its opening, including changing of the ground floor retail area into a cafe, and addition of more windows around its entrance. In 2006, Floor 4 of the gallery was transformed from a restaurant area into a new gallery space.[17] The gallery space with 8m high ceiling has enabled the Gallery to present a further programme of exhibitions, in addition to its main temporary exhibition galleries. This has included exhibitions by regional and international artists including David Batchelor,[18] Richard Billingham[19] and Leo Fitzmaurice.[20][21]

In 2012, artist Sarah Staton was commissioned to design a new sculpture terrace for the Gallery, opening to the public later that same year the space converted a previously underused area of patio on floor 4.[22] "

The Gallery houses the fixed Garman Ryan Collection of sculptures and paintings by modern masters including a large selection of work by Jacob Epstein and many significant works by European artists including Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Turner, Corot, Renoir and Constable represented in prints, sketches, drawings, paintings and sculptures.[23][24][25] The collection was donated to the people of Walsall in 1973 by Epstein's late wife Kathleen Garman (Lady Epstein) and her friend Sally Ryan.[26]

In 2006, the gallery acquired the Epstein Archive, a collection of photographs, manuscripts, sketches and correspondence between Jacob Epstein and his family and friends, patrons, buyers and galleries. In 2009 Bob and Roberta Smith was commissioned to work alongside Archive Curator Neil Lebeter to reveal the previously undocumented and unseen Epstein Archive to audiences.[27][28] The initiative forms part of New Ways of Curating, a project initiated by Arts Council England.

The basement art store holds works that are not on display.

The permanent collection of artworks at the Gallery incorporates the municipal holdings built up from 1892, from the formal foundation of Walsall's art collection. It ranges from Victorian paintings by Frank Holl and Briton Rivière, including some of local interest through to works by contemporary artists, such as Catherine Yass, Robert Priseman and Fiona Banner. Through the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection scheme, the New Art Gallery Walsall was able to add to its collections works by Gavin Turk, Hew Locke, Mike Nelson, Yoshihiro Suda, Dorothy Cross, Laura Ford, Darren Lago, Estelle Thompson, Richard Woods, Yinka Shonibare and Rose Finn-Kelcey. The works that comprise this collection transfer ownership to Walsall Council from the Contemporary Art Society in 2014.[24]

In 2007, the New Art Gallery was awarded £1million through the Art Fund International to collect international contemporary art on the theme of the metropolis. This has included the acquisition of works by Jochem Hendricks, Grazia Toderi, Dynita Singh, Zhang Enli, Christiane Baumgartner, Barry McGee and Nicolas Provost.[29]"

Address

Walsall Art Gallery, Walsall WS2 8LR

+ The New Art Gallery Walsall

Gallery Square
Walsall
WS2 8LG

Email

newartgallery@walsall.gov.uk

Phone

01922 654400

Website

https://thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/

Directions

"The New Art Gallery Walsall is situated in the heart of Walsall Town Centre, at the top of Park Street, along the main High Street, within easy walking distance from both the train and bus stations. The Gallery is situated opposite the Crown Wharf Retail Park, which includes local parking, retail outlets, restaurants, Premier Inn hotel and The Light Cinema.

Admission to the Gallery is free, with access to the exhibitions, collections, and an education programme for children, families and adults.

Local Car Parks

Local parking is available at the Crown Wharf Retail Park, Frederick Street car park, Station Street and the Saddlers Centre.

Please see the Walsall Council website for details including charges.

Please see the PDF download of car parks in Walsall " https://thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Walsall-Council-Car-Parks.pdf

Opening Times

Always check with the venue directly for up-to-date information including opening times and admission charges as they may be subject to change

2025: Tuesday – Saturday 10am-5pm

Sundays 12noon-4pm

Closed Mondays and Bank Holidays

Transport

2025: "The Gallery is 2 minutes walk from Walsall Train Station via Park Street and Gallery Square. Trains to and from Birmingham New Street, approximately every 25 minutes. National train links from New Street.

West Midlands Railway offers a frequent and fast service from major cities, including Birmingham, Hereford and Coventry to Walsall Railway Station. Return fares available from just £4.60 when travelling from Birmingham to Walsall. Visit www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk to book tickets.

The Gallery is a few minutes walk from St Paul’s Bus Station, via Park Street and Gallery Square. Local services run frequently, please check local timetables for details."

Amenities

2025: "The New Art Gallery has free public Wi-Fi throughout the building.

In 2006, the Gallery opened a free public access Art Library, where visitors are able to learn about culture, exhibitions and award-winning architecture. Since opening nearly 50,000 people[citation needed] have made use of the specialist collection of books, journals and archive material.

The ground floor café in The New Art Gallery Walsall was transformed into a Costa Coffee store in August 2007."

"Visit our bright, spacious and stylish ground floor shop where you will find a large variety of products available. We stock a wide range of books including art, architecture, photography, fashion and local history.

We have a selection of art technique and craft books to inspire you and now offer a good choice of art materials. There is also a wide selection of gifts and gallery souvenirs, greeting cards and stationery."

 

"Located in the heart of Walsall town centre the Gallery is close to a range of attractions. Retail outlets, such as the Crown Wharf Retail Park, Saddler’s Centre and the main High Street offer plenty of choice for shopping.

Discover the history of Walsall as the British leather goods capital at the nearby Leather Museum, housed in a restored leather factory. Two minutes from the Gallery, The Light cinema offers a range of mainstream movies, screenings of Opera and Theatre, art-house films and Bollywood.

There are a range of restaurants, bars and cafés within walking distance of the Gallery, including Brewers Fayre,  Bella Italia, Pizza Express, Nandos, Starbucks,  Wharf Bar and Black Country Arms.

Check out The Best of Walsall website for a list of local shops and businesses in the area.