Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Queen's Road
Bristol
City of Bristol
BS8 1RL
England
Website
General enquiries
Telephone
0117 922 3571
Fax
0117 922 2047
Bristol’s premier museum and art gallery houses important collections of minerals and fossils, natural history, eastern art, world wildlife, Egyptology, archaeology and fine and applied art.
Venue Type:
Museum, Gallery
Additional info
For a reminder of your visit, the Museum shop contains award-winning merchandise, including reproduction prints from the Art Gallery's collections, greetings cards, a wide range of books for all ages and interests, unusual gifts and Bristol-branded gifts to name just a few. To view the stock and for more information, visit the Museum Shop web page.
The Geology, Applied Art and Eastern Art collections at Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery are Designated Collections of national importance.
Among the Designated applied art collections with a strong Bristol connection are important collections of delftware and glass. Also designated are Bristol's geology collections and fine and applied arts from the Far East, including the celebrated Schiller Collection.
Part of Bristol Museums’ Designated Collections related to Bristol’s role as a manufacturing city and major seaport is on display here. Other parts of these collections can be seen at Georgian House, Red Lodge, and Blaise Castle House Museum. Please contact Bristol Museums for more information if you wish to see a specific item.
At Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery there is a choice of galleries situated upstairs full of artworks: Old Masters, French School, British Collection, Modern Art and the Bristol School.
Alongside in the adjoining galleries, the decorative arts collections can be found: Eastern Art, Ceramics, Silverware and Glassware. On the lower floors - a fine collection of glittering minerals, ancient fossils and a large archaeology gallery showing the South West's geographic formation. Close by is the World Wildlife Gallery containing many examples of endangered or extinct animals, including the much-loved Alfred the Gorilla.
The popular Egyptology gallery contains real mummies besides other items and situated next door is the hugely impressive wall decoration made over 3,000 years ago - the Assyrian Reliefs. A natural history gallery contains examples of aquatic habitats in the south west of England and an interactive map of local wildlife sites and a freshwater aquarium containing fish typical of the region. Throughout the Museum and Art Gallery material from other countries can be seen, including pottery and clothing.
Collection details
Science and Technology, Religion, Photography, Natural Sciences, Fine Art, Decorative and Applied Art, Costume and Textiles, Coins and Medals, Aviation, Archaeology
Key artists and exhibits
- Old Masters, French School, British Collection, Modern Art and the Bristol School
- Eastern Art, Ceramics, Silverware and Glassware
- Archaelogy / fossils
- Egyptology / mummies
- Assyrian Reliefs
- Pottery and clothing
- Natural history
- Endangered or extinct animals, including the much-loved Alfred the Gorilla
- Designated Collection
Modern Art in Britain: Reality Questioned
- 17 January — 31 August 2015 *on now
See your favourite 20th century British paintings in a new light with Modern Art in Britain: Reality Questioned.
Paintings by artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, David Bomberg and Eric Ravilious reveal how they experimented with primitivism, illusion, visual puns and abstraction.
Suitable for
Website
Hockney - A Rake's Progress
- 31 January — 14 June 2015 *on now
Hogarth’s classic morality tale gets a Pop Art makeover by renowned and influential artist David Hockney.
David Hockney’s A Rake’s Progress was inspired by the works of the same name by William Hogarth who painted them in 1735. Hogarth’s sequence of eight pictures show the downfall of a rich young man seduced by the charms of London and corrupted by its vices.
Set in New York in the early 1960s, Hockney’s A Rake’s Progress is an autobiographical journey of self-discovery.
All eight prints are from our own collection at Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives and will be displayed in advance of our major William Hogarth exhibition in May.
Suitable for
- Any age
Admission
Free Admission
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/hockney-rakes-progress/
New York City Apartment/Bristol
- 28 March — 27 September 2015
Internationally renowned contemporary artist, Do Ho Suh showcases a unique installation of his New York City Apartment at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.
Commissioned especially for Bristol, New York City Apartment/Bristol allows visitors to experience the ghost architecture of a soft corridor and staircase tailored from fabric based on the artist’s home in New York.
As a South Korean who has spent most of his adult life abroad
Do Ho Suh explores his personal sense of physical and cultural displacement through his work and is known for creating works that explore the issues of separation, migration, sense of loss and longing.
He does this through representing real objects such as furniture, rooms and buildings that serve as mementoes of real spaces, but in unusual materials or in an unexpected scale.
Suitable for
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/do-ho-suh/
Hogarth: Painter & Printmaker
- 16 May — 31 August 2015
Tate Britain is lending its collection of oil paintings by William Hogarth, one of the most important figures in British art, to Bristol Museum & Art Gallery this summer.
From portraiture to satire to history painting; this exhibition will introduce the diverse range of subjects that were tackled by this iconic painter and printmaker. Included in the exhibition will be his well-known satirical prints from our permanent collection.
This will be the most comprehensive show of the artist’s work ever in the South West. Bristol, home to Hogarth’s 28ft high Altar piece currently on display at St Nicholas Church, is proud to be selected by Tate as the only regional partner.
Suitable for
- Any age
Admission
Free Exhibition
Website
Art Forms in Nature
- 4 July — 13 September 2015
This touring exhibition from the Hayward Gallery, Southbank is an exquisite display of beautiful photographic images of close-up plants taken in the 1930s.
Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a German photographer celebrated by the Surrealists and early modernists for his pioneering close-up images of plants and flora. Trained as a sculptor he was also an amateur botanist, fascinated by the underlying structures of nature.
Part of Bristol’s official Green Capital programme.
Suitable for
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/art-forms-nature/
Painting light and colour
- 5 March 2015 1:15-1:45pm
This gallery talk will introduce the highlights of Bristol’s Impressionist collection with curator Jenny Gaschke.
Suitable for
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/painting-light-colour/
Modern Art in Britain: The space inside the canvas
- 7 March 2015 1:15-1:45pm
The space inside the canvas will explore how the artists in the Modern Art in Britain: Reality Questioned exhibition used real and imaginary space.The space inside the canvas will explore how the artists in the Modern Art in Britain: Reality Questioned exhibition used real and imaginary space.
See your favourite 20th century British paintings in a new light with Modern Art in Britain: Reality Questioned (17 January - 31 August).
Suitable for
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/space-inside-canvas/
Curious Collectors
- 14 March 2015 From 10:30am
Discover some of our greatest antiquarian and archaeological collections, how they were formed, and the people that created them with Curious Collectors.
Lots of hands on opportunities to explore objects which are not normally on display to the public. Suitable for ages 16+
Suitable for
Admission
£35 / £30 conc.
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/curious-collectors/
The RWA: England’s only regional Royal Academy of Art
- 24 March 2015 7-8:30pm
Join Alison Bevan, the Director of the Royal West of England Academy as she reveals the history of the RWA – the first Art Gallery in Bristol – and gives her vision for its future.
Suitable for
Admission
Tickets £3 payable on the door.
Website
Do Ho Suh lunchtime talk
- 2 April 2015 1:15-1:45pm
Join curator Julia Carver for this lunchtime introduction to Do Ho Suh and his work.
Experience the ghost architecture of New York City Apartment/Bristol based on the artist’s home. Tailored from fabric and commissioned for Bristol. Be immersed.
Suitable for
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/do-ho-suh-talk/
Buried Treasure
- 25 April 2015 10:30am-4pm
A chance to get up close and personal with some of our archaeology collection’s most precious objects, and find out what you can – and can’t – call treasure.
Suitable for ages 16+
Suitable for
Admission
£35 / £30 conc.
Website
http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/buried-treasure/
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