The reopening of Leeds Art Gallery in October, following a 21-month closure and £4m refit, was all about its roof. The refurbishment was planned to repair and reglaze the Victorian building’s original roof, which had leaked for more than a century. During the transformation, a barrel-vaulted glazed roof was discovered in the central court gallery on the first floor, which had been hidden above a false ceiling for more than 40 years.
The newly realised light-filled space has been put to good use, currently displaying Arena, a semi-transparent polycarbonate sculpture by Alison Wilding, which is a gift from the Contemporary Art Society.
Other improvements to the Grade II-listed building include new lighting, environmental controls and structural repair. The work has given the venue a new lease of life, but the changes may not be immediately obvious to the visiting public.
Defining artworks
On entering the gallery on the ground floor, those familiar with the venue will recognise Jacob Epstein’s Maternity sculpture back in position next to the cafe, with the same information desk and gallery layout. I don’t know whether this is a case of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or simply recognition that the building’s layout is a bit awkward.
In certain spaces, particularly on the ground floor in the White and Henry Moore Sculpture galleries, where the Artist Rooms exhibition of Joseph Beuys is on display until 21 January 2018, it feels like the curators are battling against the space. But the challenging layout does result in interesting displays, with exhibition posters boldly filling the wall of a staircase down to the basement and Beuys’ large Scala Napoletana installation striking a dramatic pose in a corner.
Elsewhere downstairs, there is a display of work by the 19th-century watercolourist John Sell Cotman (until 21 January), an excellent excuse to show hundreds of pages from his sketchbook that have never been exhibited before. These works line the walls with just one small panel of interpretation, allowing visitors to enjoy his subtle yet sensitive depictions of a changing world.
According to a new gallery guide, the Cotman works on show have been chosen to explore aspects of the Leeds collection that helped define it as one of the most significant of 20th-century art. The artist was popular during the 1920s and 30s, and this display aims to bring fresh understanding of his work, but I didn’t pick up on this during my visit.
The Ziff Gallery on the ground floor is dedicated to art donated during the museum’s first 12 years (1888-1900), with an emphasis on the patrons and benefactors that bequeathed them to the city. A lick of paint has improved this space, as has the arresting central block of busts.
But the biggest transformation has taken place on the first floor. The experience starts on the way up, with the central staircase boasting a geometric wall painting commissioned from Lothar Götz and supported by the Art Fund. The bright colours and angular shapes brighten the space and reinforce the collection’s roots in modernity.
Accessibility problems
As a visitor with a young child I was disappointed that the building’s poor lift service had not been updated. Presumably, the fabric of the building – or perhaps financial limitations – would not allow a central lift, but the rigmarole of walking through the cafe, asking someone else to hold non-accessible doors open for me and then manoeuvring through a crowded library shop to reach the first floor was a turn-off. I struggled with my buggy, and I’m not sure a wheelchair user would manage it unaided.
Once upstairs though, the space is light and exhilaratingly busy – I overheard a schoolchild say “look at that” repeatedly in the space of a few minutes, which pretty much sums up the experience.
In the West Gallery, as you reach the top of the stairs, a display entitled The Lives of Others: Important Mischief is an untraditional exploration of portraiture. I particularly loved a collage of portraits in different styles from a range of periods at the top of the stairs, which noticeably only features one or two old white men. If this isn’t a permanent display, it really should be.
Also upstairs is an exhibition by Jacob Kramer, Leeds’s most significant modernist artist. The works selected here explore the Ukrainian-born painter’s quest for the spiritual in the context of other European artists who came to Britain to escape political conflict.
Another notable display brings together Frank Brangwyn’s panels from the 1905 Venice Biennale and depict the hard reality of the working man, alongside Diego Rivera’s 1930s designs for the Detroit Institute of Art, also showing industrial labour. There is a striking synergy between the works, despite the different time and cultural context, but the interpretation could have done more to encourage visitors to consider this.
Overall, the spaces are light on interpretation and although the text panels are well written, the gallery seems to miss a trick by not posing more challenging or intriguing questions.
Different mediums and a large number of sculptures on display (as you might expect from a venue that’s part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle) make the art gallery as three-dimensional as possible and bring the space to life. There is little attempt to integrate digital interactives, beyond some QR codes dotted around, which I predict will be ignored by most visitors. But this isn’t a failing – the breadth of the works on display means there is something for everyone and the experience feels authentic and meaningful.
During the gallery’s closure, it maintained a public profile through loans to local and international galleries, as well as engaging a diverse range of audiences through external programmes, including taking works from the collection out into schools and offsite activity with communities across the city.
Thanks to subtle interventions from the designers and curators, the collections can speak for themselves again in the gallery itself. With a decision on the city of Leeds’s bid to be European City of Culture in 2023 expected next year, the reinvigorated art gallery makes an important statement about this Yorkshire city’s rightful place on the cultural map.
Main funders Leeds City Council; Arts Council England Major Partner Museum programme
Architects Leeds City Council and Leeds Art Gallery
Exhibition design In-house
Branding Journal by Design
Lighting Concord Lighting
Exhibitions Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys, and Shelter from the Storm: John Sell Cotman, both until 21 January 2018
Admission Free
The newly realised light-filled space has been put to good use, currently displaying Arena, a semi-transparent polycarbonate sculpture by Alison Wilding, which is a gift from the Contemporary Art Society.
Other improvements to the Grade II-listed building include new lighting, environmental controls and structural repair. The work has given the venue a new lease of life, but the changes may not be immediately obvious to the visiting public.
Defining artworks
On entering the gallery on the ground floor, those familiar with the venue will recognise Jacob Epstein’s Maternity sculpture back in position next to the cafe, with the same information desk and gallery layout. I don’t know whether this is a case of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or simply recognition that the building’s layout is a bit awkward.
In certain spaces, particularly on the ground floor in the White and Henry Moore Sculpture galleries, where the Artist Rooms exhibition of Joseph Beuys is on display until 21 January 2018, it feels like the curators are battling against the space. But the challenging layout does result in interesting displays, with exhibition posters boldly filling the wall of a staircase down to the basement and Beuys’ large Scala Napoletana installation striking a dramatic pose in a corner.
Elsewhere downstairs, there is a display of work by the 19th-century watercolourist John Sell Cotman (until 21 January), an excellent excuse to show hundreds of pages from his sketchbook that have never been exhibited before. These works line the walls with just one small panel of interpretation, allowing visitors to enjoy his subtle yet sensitive depictions of a changing world.
According to a new gallery guide, the Cotman works on show have been chosen to explore aspects of the Leeds collection that helped define it as one of the most significant of 20th-century art. The artist was popular during the 1920s and 30s, and this display aims to bring fresh understanding of his work, but I didn’t pick up on this during my visit.
The Ziff Gallery on the ground floor is dedicated to art donated during the museum’s first 12 years (1888-1900), with an emphasis on the patrons and benefactors that bequeathed them to the city. A lick of paint has improved this space, as has the arresting central block of busts.
But the biggest transformation has taken place on the first floor. The experience starts on the way up, with the central staircase boasting a geometric wall painting commissioned from Lothar Götz and supported by the Art Fund. The bright colours and angular shapes brighten the space and reinforce the collection’s roots in modernity.
Accessibility problems
As a visitor with a young child I was disappointed that the building’s poor lift service had not been updated. Presumably, the fabric of the building – or perhaps financial limitations – would not allow a central lift, but the rigmarole of walking through the cafe, asking someone else to hold non-accessible doors open for me and then manoeuvring through a crowded library shop to reach the first floor was a turn-off. I struggled with my buggy, and I’m not sure a wheelchair user would manage it unaided.
Once upstairs though, the space is light and exhilaratingly busy – I overheard a schoolchild say “look at that” repeatedly in the space of a few minutes, which pretty much sums up the experience.
In the West Gallery, as you reach the top of the stairs, a display entitled The Lives of Others: Important Mischief is an untraditional exploration of portraiture. I particularly loved a collage of portraits in different styles from a range of periods at the top of the stairs, which noticeably only features one or two old white men. If this isn’t a permanent display, it really should be.
Also upstairs is an exhibition by Jacob Kramer, Leeds’s most significant modernist artist. The works selected here explore the Ukrainian-born painter’s quest for the spiritual in the context of other European artists who came to Britain to escape political conflict.
Another notable display brings together Frank Brangwyn’s panels from the 1905 Venice Biennale and depict the hard reality of the working man, alongside Diego Rivera’s 1930s designs for the Detroit Institute of Art, also showing industrial labour. There is a striking synergy between the works, despite the different time and cultural context, but the interpretation could have done more to encourage visitors to consider this.
Overall, the spaces are light on interpretation and although the text panels are well written, the gallery seems to miss a trick by not posing more challenging or intriguing questions.
Different mediums and a large number of sculptures on display (as you might expect from a venue that’s part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle) make the art gallery as three-dimensional as possible and bring the space to life. There is little attempt to integrate digital interactives, beyond some QR codes dotted around, which I predict will be ignored by most visitors. But this isn’t a failing – the breadth of the works on display means there is something for everyone and the experience feels authentic and meaningful.
During the gallery’s closure, it maintained a public profile through loans to local and international galleries, as well as engaging a diverse range of audiences through external programmes, including taking works from the collection out into schools and offsite activity with communities across the city.
Thanks to subtle interventions from the designers and curators, the collections can speak for themselves again in the gallery itself. With a decision on the city of Leeds’s bid to be European City of Culture in 2023 expected next year, the reinvigorated art gallery makes an important statement about this Yorkshire city’s rightful place on the cultural map.
Project data
Cost £4m Main funders Leeds City Council; Arts Council England Major Partner Museum programme
Architects Leeds City Council and Leeds Art Gallery
Exhibition design In-house
Branding Journal by Design
Lighting Concord Lighting
Exhibitions Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys, and Shelter from the Storm: John Sell Cotman, both until 21 January 2018
Admission Free
