Fry Art Gallery

About the museum

The Fry Art Gallery occupies a small building in Castle Street that was put up in 1856 as a private gallery for a local collector, the Quaker banker and amateur painter Francis Gibson. It later passed to the Fry family, and it became a public art gallery in 1987 when the Fry Art Gallery Society took it on. The Society bought the freehold of the building in 2015.

The gallery tells the story of the artists who lived and worked in and around Great Bardfield in north-west Essex from the early 1930s until the 1980s. Edward and Charlotte Bawden and Eric and Tirzah Ravilious were among the first to settle there, and John Aldridge, who lived in the village for fifty years until his death in 1983, is also central to the collection. Its holdings of paintings, prints, illustrations, wallpapers and decorative designs run to more than 3,000 works.

The collection, known as the North West Essex Collection, is looked after by a separate charity, the North West Essex Collection Trust, formed in 2002. Only a selection can be shown at any time, so displays are changed each season, and all works can be seen by appointment. The gallery is an accredited museum run by volunteers, receives no regular core funding, and opens each year from April to October.

Highlights

• Works by the Great Bardfield artists, including Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and John Aldridge
• Paintings, prints, illustrations, wallpapers and decorative designs
• Seasonal displays drawn from the collection
• Free admission
• Collection works can be seen by appointment

Permanent exhibition

• North West Essex Collection – Changing selections of paintings, prints, books and ceramics by artists who lived in and around Great Bardfield and Saffron Walden, shown in the Main Gallery and the Gibson Room.

Founded

1987

Operated by

The Fry Art Gallery Society (registered charity)

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission is free. The gallery receives no regular core funding and welcomes donations; annual membership costs 20 pounds and life membership 200 pounds.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The gallery states that step-free access is available. Blue Badge holders may use the residents' parking spaces in Castle Street.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

The gallery has an online shop selling gifts from textiles to books.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit