Your Art Gallery – Paintings Chosen by You

20 August – 27 September 2020

Tickets available now! Book here

York Art Gallery invites you to choose the paintings you love and have missed the most while we’ve been closed to feature in a new exhibition this August.

From Barbara Hepworth to Albert Moore, Paul Nash to Bridget Riley, Your Art Gallery – Paintings Chosen by You will showcase a selection of works from the Gallery’s rich collection of paintings, voted for by the public, alongside further works chosen through Twitter polls. There was also an opportunity to write short labels for the paintings you are most fond of, with the favourites being printed and displayed next to the work itself.

The online polls have now closed! The winning works are announced below!

Dr Beatrice Bertram, senior curator, said: “We are really excited to be reopening our galleries and welcoming people back to come and see the wonderful art in our collections.
“We thought what better way to reopen than by giving our audiences the opportunity to choose the paintings they want to see. We hope as many people as possible will vote for their favourites through the online survey or the Twitter polls and also write a few words about one specific work, telling us why it means so much to them. We can’t wait to see which choices you make in what will be a truly fascinating exhibition of work curated by you.”

The online vote will involve 20 of the most famous and popular works from the gallery’s permanent collection – none of which were on display prior to lockdown – from L.S. Lowry to David Hockney. The 10 most popular will feature in the show, with accompanying labels written by voters. The winners will be announced online on Thursday July 30.

Ten other works will be put to the public vote through the Twitter polls, running every day from Monday July 20 to Friday July 24, with two works each day being pitted against one another.

These chosen works will be shown alongside further paintings chosen by the Friends of York Art Gallery, as well as new acquisitions and some of our curators’ favourites.

Several entries by the Gallery into York Museum Trust’s popular #CuratorBattle on Twitter, which has run throughout lockdown, will also feature in the exhibition.

List of public poll winners

Barbara Hepworth (1903 – 1975), Surgeon Waiting, 1948, oil and graphite on paper

Richard Jack (1866 – 1952), The Return to the Front: Victoria Railway Station, 1916, oil on canvas

Paul Nash (1889 – 1946), Winter Sea, 1925-37, oil on canvas

Bridget Riley (b.1931), Study 4 for Painting with Two Verticals, 2004, watercolour

Barbara McKenzie-Smith (1902 – 1996), The Bird Cage, unknown date, oil on canvas

Alfred Walter Bayes (1832 – 1909), Day Dreams, 1902-03, oil on canvas

Paul Maitland (1863 – 1909), Cheyne Walk in Sunshine, 1887-88, oil on canvas

Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887 – 1976), The Bandstand, Peel Park, Salford, 1931, oil on canvas

Harold Gilman (1876 – 1919), Beechwood, Gloucestershire, 1914-19, oil on canvas

Eugène-Gabriel Isabey (1803 – 1886), Boat in a Storm, 1851-57, oil on canvas

Spencer Gore (1878 – 1914), The Balcony at the Alhambra, 1911-12, oil on canvas

Twitter Winners

William Etty, Male Nude, with Arms Up-Stretched, 1828-30

Luis Paret y Alcazar, A Picnic at a Country Inn, 1772-73

George Gower, Mary Denton, 1573

Ethel Walker, Prize Bouquet with Grapes, 1936

Leonard Rosoman, Taverna la Fenice, Venice, No. 2, 1952-53

Friends of York Art Gallery Winners

Edward Burra (1905 – 1976), Silver Dollar Bar, 1953, watercolour

Bernardo Bellotto (1722 – 1780), The Piazza San Martino, Lucca, 1742-46, oil on canvas

Parmigianino (1503 – 1540), Portrait of a Man with a Book, 1520-40, oil on canvas

Bryan Kneale (b.1930), Sir Herbert Read, 1958, oil on canvas

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 – 1904), Pink and Yellow Roses, unknown date, oil on canvas