YORK Art Gallery has selected more than 50 works by the cream of 20th century British artists for an exclusive show, Gwen John To Freud, Modern Masters From The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery.
Cherry-picked from the Higgins gallery in Bedford, watercolours and drawings by the likes of Freud, Auerbach, Moore, Hepworth, John and Paul Nash are newly on display until July 13 in an exhibition to be shown only in York.
York Museums Trust has worked in partnership with the Higgins gallery, which is celebrating the publication of a catalogue of its collection with this exhibition. York decided to concentrate on British 20th century artists in its choices because the York Art Gallery's collections already include paintings by some of the featured artists, and a selection of these are on show in the adjoining gallery.
The Modern Masters show incorporates works in pen and ink, watercolour, pencil, charcoal and pastel and the subject matter embraces portraits, landscapes, urban scenes, images of war and abstract compositions, adding up to a survey of British art during the past century.
The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, the brainchild of Bedford brewer Cecil Higgins (1856-1941), opened in 1941 and ten years later the gallery board decided to focus on collecting watercolours. In the 1950s and early 1960s, more than 500 were acquired: plenty of choice for the York show.
York Art Gallery, in Exhibition Square, is open daily from 10am to 5pm; admission is free.
Updated: 08:57 Friday, May 16, 2003
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