About
Huddersfield Art Gallery houses one of the most significant public art collections in the north of England, with particular strength in twentieth-century and contemporary British art. Located in the heart of Huddersfield within the landmark Princess Alexandra Walk building alongside the town's library, the gallery has been collecting and exhibiting art since the late nineteenth century, building a permanent collection of over 4,500 works that includes paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings.
The gallery is renowned for its outstanding collection of works by L.S. Lowry, one of the largest public holdings of the artist's work outside Salford. Lowry's paintings and drawings of northern industrial scenes, with their distinctive matchstick figures and smoky urban landscapes, are among the most requested and beloved works in the collection. Alongside Lowry, the gallery holds significant works by Francis Bacon, including powerful figurative paintings that demonstrate the artist's visceral emotional intensity.
The permanent collection spans British art from the nineteenth century to the present day, with notable works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Walter Sickert, Harold Gilman, Matthew Smith, and members of the Camden Town Group. The collection has particular depth in twentieth-century prints, with an extensive holding of lithographs, etchings, and screenprints by major British and international artists. Contemporary acquisitions continue to develop the collection, ensuring it reflects current artistic practice alongside its historical strengths.
Managed by Kirklees Council as part of the Kirklees Museums and Galleries service, the gallery provides free admission and runs a programme of temporary exhibitions, talks, and educational events throughout the year. The gallery plays a vital role in the cultural life of Huddersfield and the wider Kirklees area, making significant art accessible to a diverse community.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Busiest: Saturday
💡 Weekday mornings for the quietest viewing. Check exhibition programme for new shows and private views.
💡 Visitor Tips
- The Lowry paintings are the star attraction - ask gallery staff which Lowry works are currently on display, as the collection is sometimes rotated.
- Admission is completely free, making this an excellent cultural stop that can be combined with other Huddersfield town centre activities.
- Huddersfield station is only a 5-minute walk away with regular services from Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield, making this easily accessible by train.
- The gallery shares a building with the public library, so you can combine an art visit with browsing the library's local history resources.
- Allow about an hour for a thorough visit. The gallery is compact but the quality of individual works, particularly the Lowry and Bacon, rewards close attention.
- Check the Kirklees Council website for the current temporary exhibition programme and any associated talks or events.
- Huddersfield's magnificent railway station, often described as a 'stately home with trains', is worth admiring on your way to or from the gallery.
- Photography is generally allowed in permanent collection galleries but always check signage for temporary exhibitions with loaned works.
Highlights
L.S. Lowry Collection
Huddersfield Art Gallery holds one of the most significant public collections of works by Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) outside the Lowry centre in Salford. The collection includes paintings and drawings spanning Lowry's career, from his iconic depictions of northern industrial towns with their smoky skies, terraced houses, and distinctive matchstick figures, to quieter landscape studies and later works.
Lowry visited and painted in West Yorkshire, and his connection to the region gives the collection particular local resonance.
The paintings capture a vanished world of mill chimneys, cobbled streets, and working-class communities that defined the industrial north. These are among the gallery's most treasured and frequently requested works.
Francis Bacon Works
The gallery holds significant works by Francis Bacon (1909-1992), one of the most important and influential figurative painters of the twentieth century.
Bacon's paintings are characterised by their raw emotional power, distorted human forms, and brooding psychological intensity. The works in Huddersfield's collection demonstrate his distinctive approach to the human figure, with its anguished brushwork and claustrophobic spatial settings.
Having major Bacon works in a regional gallery of this size is exceptional and reflects the quality of the collection built up over decades of thoughtful acquisition. These paintings command attention and provoke strong reactions from visitors encountering Bacon's confrontational vision.
Yorkshire Sculpture: Moore and Hepworth
The collection includes works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, the two towering figures of twentieth-century British sculpture who both grew up in West Yorkshire. Their inclusion in the collection connects the gallery to the region's extraordinary contribution to modern art. Moore's work explores the human form through abstraction, while Hepworth's pierced and stringed sculptures embody a refined modernist vision.
The gallery's holdings of prints and drawings by both artists complement the three-dimensional works, showing the creative processes behind their sculpture.
Seeing these works in a West Yorkshire gallery provides a meaningful connection to the landscape and communities that shaped these artists.
Camden Town Group Paintings
The permanent collection includes notable works by members of the Camden Town Group, the influential circle of post-Impressionist painters who worked in London in the years before the First World War. Works by Walter Sickert, Harold Gilman, Spencer Gore, and other members of the group demonstrate the movement's interest in everyday urban subjects painted in bold colour with an emphasis on light and atmosphere.
These paintings represent a pivotal moment in British art when artists began to absorb the lessons of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, applying them to distinctively British subjects.
The gallery's Camden Town holdings are among the strongest in any regional collection.
Collections
Huddersfield Art Gallery's permanent collection comprises over 4,500 works of art including paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and photographs, with particular strength in twentieth-century and contemporary British art. The collection is renowned for its outstanding holdings of L. S.
Lowry paintings and drawings, significant works by Francis Bacon, and sculpture and prints by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The Camden Town Group is well represented through works by Sickert, Gilman, and Gore. The print collection is extensive, with several thousand lithographs, etchings, and screenprints spanning the twentieth century.
Nineteenth-century paintings include Victorian landscapes, portraits, and narrative works. Contemporary acquisitions continue to develop the collection. The gallery is managed by Kirklees Museums and Galleries as part of the local authority's cultural service.
Highlights from the Permanent Collection
A rotating display of key works from the permanent collection including Lowry, Bacon, Moore, Hepworth, and Camden Town Group paintings, alongside prints and contemporary art.
📍 Main Gallery
Prints and Drawings
Rotating displays drawn from the extensive print collection, featuring lithographs, etchings, and screenprints by major twentieth-century British and international artists.
📍 Print Gallery
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.