Collections
York Art Gallery's collections have all been awarded 'designated' status for their national and international importance.
Our collections include the works of art on display in the gallery and many more works that are behind the scenes in storage. This section gives an overview of everything, both on display and off.
Forthcoming Library Closure.
Unfortunatley due to the building work taking place in York Art Gallery we are unable to give access to works on paper in store or our library from April to August 2009. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Decorative Arts
Our Decorative Arts collection of more than 3,000 pieces contains a wide variety of ceramics, glassware and other items. View Collection
Gallery of Pots - First Exhibition '3 Collectors'
Our Gallery of Pots is due to open in September and the first exhibition, 3 Collectors, features some of the most important UK pottery of the 20th Century. View Collection
Paintings
Our collection of 1,000 paintings is exceptional for its range in covering the history of Western European painting. View Collection
Studio Pottery
Our collection of 20th century studio pottery is one of the biggest and most important in Britain with more than 4,000 pieces. View Collection
Works on Paper
There are over 17,000 drawings, watercolours and prints in the collection. About half of these are landscape views and more that 4,000 feature the city of York by local artists such as Henry Cave, John Harper and John Browne. View Collection
Star Works
This section highlights works which are rare, beautiful, interesting, or tell a story. In many cases they are not always on display and our website gives us the opportunity to show them to you.
A National Treasure
This square porcelain dish from around 1930, by Japanese potter Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886 1963), is an exciting new acquisition for York Museums Trust. View Collection
Day Dreams
This painting inspired our visitors to verse! View Collection
Dutch Courage
Dutch painters of the 17th century favoured simple subjects that reflected their everyday lives. They explored themes like daily toil and political events, painting them in fine detail. View Collection
Flower Pictures II
Hua De Tu An, Flower Pictures II, 2007 created by Felicity Aylieff View Collection
Potty about pots
Yorkshire librarian Bill Ismay built up one of the world's biggest and best collections of 20th century ceramics in his two-bedroomed terraced house in Wakefield. View Collection
Short Story Competition
Paint a picture in 300 words - a competition judged by 2008 writer-in-residence Tracy Chevalier View Collection
Staff stars
We asked some of our staff to choose a painting from the many held in our collection - including those on display and those currently in storage. View Collection
York's controversial artist
William Etty is York's most famous artist and was the first major British painter to specialise in the nude before the 20th century. View Collection