History of the Grundy Art Gallery

You’ll find it on Queen Street in Blackpool town centre. It’s a beautiful Grade II listed, Edwardian red-brick building. But have you ever wondered who built it or why? Come with us to find out more about the history of the Grundy Art Gallery.

• Many thanks to Nick Moore and his History of Blackpool for some of the information in this article.

Grundy Art Gallery is Blackpool’s art gallery. Today, it offers a year round programme of contemporary and visual art exhibitions and events. There are solo and group exhibitions together with talks, workshops and educational activities.

The Grundy Art Gallery was founded in 1908 by brothers John and Cuthbert Grundy. It’s been at the centre of cultural and artistic life in the town for over 100 years. It began with the ambition to show the best art of the day to the people of Blackpool. This sentiment remains at the heart of today, as a leading contemporary art gallery in the North West.

History of the Grundy Art Gallery

Cuthbert Grundy was born in 1846, moving to Blackpool in 1888. After living at Alexandra Road in South Shore he moved to 11 Moore Street. Then into his own newly-built 8-bedroomed house, Holmfield, at 456 Lytham Road. His brother had an identical house next door, at 458.

Cuthbert lived there until his death on 1 February 1946. In 1949 the ‘Home Art Museum’ opened in his former house. Complete with a ship’s cannon from the New Inn on South Beach, it closed in 1980. It’s now a private house again, after being a girls boarding house for Arnold School.

Building the Grundy

Local artists John and Cuthbert Grundy were described as ‘leaders of the artistic, literary and scientific life of the town’.

In 1903 John and Cuthbert Grundy donated a collection to the town. It included fossils and shells and their 33 paintings. From June 1911 until the Grundy opened, the exhibits were displayed at a temporary museum at Revoe library.

By 1906 the brothers had added another 36 paintings for the Blackpool Art Gallery collection.

Then in 1908 John and Cuthbert Grundy provided £2,000 to fund the building costs of what is now the Grundy Art Gallery, next to the Carnegie Free Library (Blackpool Central Library).

The Grundy Opens… and Grows!

On 26 October 1911 Blackpool Art Gallery opened – as it was then known.

Visitors entered through the Sculpture Hall into two large galleries downstairs and another two on the first floor. The first floor offered access into the adjacent library – useful for public functions and such like.

Their generosity didn’t end there. In 1912 a new fund was established to buy new artworks and build the collection.

By the late 1930’s the gallery had outgrown it’s space. An extension was now added with two extra galleries. It opened on 28 February 1938.

Did you know? On 18 August 1919, Cuthbert Grundy was the first man from Blackpool to receive a knighthood. He was a founder member of the Blackpool branch of the League of Nations Union.

The Grundy Collection

John and Cuthbert Grundy donated a wide range and large number of exhibits. They included fossils, shells, paintings, oils and watercolours.

The Grundy collection isn’t on permanent display today. But it includes Victorian and modern British paintings, contemporary jewellery and video, oriental ivories and ceramics. Plus photographs and souvenirs of Blackpool.

Works in the collection include:

• Aircraftsman Shaw by Welsh painter Augustus John
• Sanctuary Wood by English landscape painter Paul Nash
• The Yellow Funnel by English painter Eric Ravilious
• The Waterway by English painter Lucy Kemp-Welch
• Woods and Forests by English Landscape painter John Linnell

There are almost 2000 items in the collection today.

Did you know? In 1889 workmen at Crossmoor in Inskip uncovered an urn, parts of a rusted sword and ‘a large dagger’. The Viking sword is all that remains of the Inskip artefacts – kept upstairs at the Grundy Art Gallery.

On 31 January Sir Cuthbert Grundy received the title of Honorary Freeman of Blackpool.

The Grundy Art Gallery Today

Grundy Art Gallery is now part of Blackpool Council’s Arts Service.

It develops and delivers arts projects which engage Blackpool’s residents, communities and visitors in the arts. The service supports the town’s arts community, placing the arts the core of Blackpool’s unique and important cultural environment.

The Grundy aims to inspire audiences through an ambitious and varied year-round exhibitions programme. It draws on the unique and invigorating context and heritage of Blackpool. For instance, exhibitions explore the space between contemporary art, entertainment and popular culture.

Today the collection includes works by established artists such as Martin Creed, Tracey Emin and Laura Ford. Gilbert and George, Brian Griffiths, Haroon Mirza and many others. It also has works by regionally based emerging talent such as Joe Fletcher Orr and Louise Giovanelli.

The gallery is an Accredited Museum. It receives funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation and from the John Ellerman Foundation.

• More about exhibitions and events at Grundy Art Gallery