Pier Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Pier Art Gallery in Stromness
, Orkney, was opened to the public in 1979. The art collector Margaret Gardiner
first visited Orkney in the 1950s and converted the old quayside building to house her collection of modern paintings and sculpture. It began as a personal collection of her friends' work: as she said, "'I hate being called a collector, for I never set out to collect". Sculptures and paintings by Barbara Hepworth
, Ben Nicholson
and Naum Gabo
formed the core of her original collection.
The original listed buildings, that once housed the office and stores of the Hudson’s Bay Company, have been sympathetically extended.
The permanent collection now includes paintings by Patrick Heron
, William Scott
, William Gear
, Alfred Wallace and many other internationally regarded artists. The Gallery was temporarily closed in 2005 for reconstruction, re-opening in July 2007.
Stromness
Stromness is the second-biggest town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the south-west of Mainland Orkney. It is also a parish, with the town of Stromness as its capital.-Etymology:...
, Orkney, was opened to the public in 1979. The art collector Margaret Gardiner
Margaret Gardiner (artist)
Margaret Gardiner was a radical modern British artist and resident of Hampstead, London, from 1932, where she was also a left wing political activist. She was also for a time the partner of Professor John Desmond Bernal the eminent scientist and political activist...
first visited Orkney in the 1950s and converted the old quayside building to house her collection of modern paintings and sculpture. It began as a personal collection of her friends' work: as she said, "'I hate being called a collector, for I never set out to collect". Sculptures and paintings by Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
, Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...
and Naum Gabo
Naum Gabo
Naum Gabo KBE, born Naum Neemia Pevsner was a prominent Russian sculptor in the Constructivism movement and a pioneer of Kinetic Art.-Early life:...
formed the core of her original collection.
The original listed buildings, that once housed the office and stores of the Hudson’s Bay Company, have been sympathetically extended.
The permanent collection now includes paintings by Patrick Heron
Patrick Heron
Patrick Heron , was an English painter, writer and designer, based in St. Ives, Cornwall.- Early life :...
, William Scott
William Scott
William Scott may refer to:* William Scott , MP for Kent * William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell , English judge and jurist* William Scott , American silent film actor...
, William Gear
William Gear
William Gear was a painter, born on 2 August 1915 in Methil in the south-east of Fife, Scotland. Born into a mining family, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art before travelling to Paris to study with Fernand Léger....
, Alfred Wallace and many other internationally regarded artists. The Gallery was temporarily closed in 2005 for reconstruction, re-opening in July 2007.