Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

Graves Art Gallery, located above the Central Library in Sheffield city center, is a prominent art gallery in Sheffield. The gallery showcases a diverse array of permanent displays from the city's historic and contemporary collections of British and European art, alongside a dynamic program of temporary exhibitions. The gallery's collection tells the story of art's development, featuring works from renowned artists such as J. M. W. Turner, Alfred Sisley, Sir Stanley Spencer, Helen Chadwick, Marc Quinn, and Bridget Riley.

The Central Library and Graves Gallery, located on the library's third floor, opened in July 1934 as a state-of-the-art facility with advanced features for its time, such as invisible panel heating, artificial ventilation, synchronized electric clocks, and five lifts, all dedicated to the "service of knowledge and art."

The gallery's first director, John Rothenstein, later became the Tate Gallery director. He was succeeded by painter George Hamilton Constantine, who served from 1938 to the 1950s. Both Rothenstein and Constantine were instrumental in expanding the gallery's 20th-century British art collection, focusing on acquiring works of exceptional significance and quality. Their efforts brought in pieces by artists like Walter Sickert, Harold Gilman, Gwen John, C. R. W. Nevinson, Jacob Epstein, Stanley Spencer, and others.

In recent years, there has been a renewed commitment to contemporary art, enabling the acquisition of significant works such as Marc Quinn’s "Kiss" and Sam Taylor-Wood’s "Self-Portrait Suspended VII," with funding from the J.G. Graves Charitable Trust, the Art Fund, and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

In 2009, the gallery underwent refurbishment and a re-hanging of its collection around key themes. Noteworthy recent exhibitions include shows featuring The Blk Art Group and Andy Warhol’s "Late Self-Portraits," reflecting the gallery's ongoing dedication to showcasing both historic and contemporary art.