Beecroft Art Gallery

Beecroft Art Gallery is a gallery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. Prior to 2014, the gallery was formerly located in and Edwardian building on Station Road at Westcliff-on-Sea which was donated to the people of Southend-on-Sea in 1952 by Walter Beecroft to house his eclectic collection of art works.[1] Walter Beecroft was a solicitor in nearby Leigh. He had already set up an Art Gallery Sub-Committee of the Public Libraries & Museum Committee in 1928, and in 1947 he proposed to endow a building to become and Art Gallery. Eventually, this led to the Beecroft Art Gallery on Station Road.[2] Beecroft also endowed the Beecroft Bequest, an art purchase fund administered by the Museums Association.[3] The gallery was resited in 2014 to the former home of the Central Library on Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea.[4]

Beecroft Art Gallery
The former Beecroft Art Gallery building in March 2012.
Location within Essex
Established1952
Coordinates51.535617°N 0.697841°E / 51.535617; 0.697841
Websitewww.southendmuseums.co.uk/beecroft
Location of the Beecroft since 2014

Art collections

Beecroft Art Gallery has a permanent collection of over 2000 works, ranging from 17th-century Dutch paintings to contemporary works. The collection includes examples by artists such as Molenaer, Ruisdael and Berchem plus 19th-century artists including Rossetti, Constable and Edward Lear. There are works by Carel Weight, the Great Bardfield Group, and a fine bronze by Jacob Epstein. The local artist Alan Sorrell is represented by his Drawings of Nubia series depicting a visit to Egypt prior to the building of the Aswan Dam. The Thorpe Smith Collection of local landscape views contains paintings, drawings and prints from as early as 1803.[5]

Local views and seascapes include: Afternoon, Hadleigh by George Shalders; At Leigh, Essex by Gustav de Breanski (c.1880–1890); Boats at Leigh by Sheila Appleton (1982); Chalkwell Bay from Belton Hills, Leigh by H. G. Allnutt; Cliff Parade, Leigh on Sea by Arthur H. Taylor; Crowstone Beach by Alfred Harvey Moore; Evening oyster boat off Southend Pier by William Calcott Knell (1867); and Leigh, Essex by Charles Fisher (1878).[6]

Costume collections

Southend Museums Service has been acquiring costume as part of its social history collection since opening in the 1970s. The collections have subsequently been re-housed at the Beecroft Art Gallery and costume exhibitions take place there once a year.

The collections' main strengths are the decades from the 1920s to the 1970s but there are important earlier pieces, most notably a rare, 17th century slap sole shoe. Not surprisingly, beach wear is a major area of collection: in 2009 Southend received a donation of 500 bathing suits from private collector, Mavis Plume. They date from around 1900 to the 1980s and include several rare pieces.[7]

Bathing suits include a 1920s men's suit in pure silk, manufactured in Brighton,[8] a 1930s ladies homemade knitted bathing suit,[9] and an all-in-one navy cotton suit with cream piping, dating to c.1900.[10]

Womenswear includes an apple green silk pelisse robe worn by Sarah Wiseman of Paglesham, Essex at her wedding in 1813,[11] a green corduroy coat of the 1930s,[12] and a 1950s yellow cotton summer dress with black and white pattern and black velvet bows.[13]

Exhibitions

A selection of paintings from the collection is always on display. Highlights include Constable's "On the Stour" and Henry Bright's "Hadleigh Castle".[14] There is a year-round programme of temporary exhibitions including the prestigious Essex Open Exhibition, which runs July–September annually.[15] There are also regular displays of historic costume from the museum collection. Themes explored in the past include wedding costume, beachwear, and evening dress as well as various decades.

In 2012, the Gallery hosted an exhibition of 19th Century prints of the town and surrounding area, complemented by modern photographs of the same locations. The 'A Time and A Place' exhibition featured views of local landmarks such as Cliff Gardens, The Seafront, The Pier and Hadleigh Castle, all donated to the Gallery by a local resident.[16]

Additional photographs
  • 1870s dress in the Southend costume collection
  • A 1920s black and gold lace dress in the collection of Southend Museums Service
  • An orange wool jersey ladies' bathing suit, c.1925. From the costume collections of Southend Museums Service
  • Walter G Beecroft, founder of the Beecroft Art Gallery in Southend-on-Sea
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References
  1. Southend Museums Service. "Visit Beecroft". Southend on Sea Borough Council. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  2. "Southend Timeline (1947)". Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  3. "Beecroft Bequest". Museums Association. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  4. "Southend Museums". Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  5. "Britain's Finest: Beecroft Art Gallery". Tomorrow's Guides. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  6. "Your Paintings (Southend Museums Service)". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  7. "University of Brighton: Faculty of Arts Research Collective". University of Brighton. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  8. "1920s men's pure silk bathing suit". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  9. "1930s ladies' homemade knitted bathing suit". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  10. "Early 1900s all-in-one bathing suit". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  11. "1813 – wedding gown". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  12. "1930s corduroy coat". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  13. "1950s yellow summer dress". Southend Museums Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  14. "Art Fund: Beecroft Art Gallery". National Art Collections Fund. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  15. "Arts Organisers: 54th Essex Open Exhibition". Artists Information Company. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  16. A Time and A Place (exhibition leaflet). Southend-on-Sea: Southend Museums Service. 2012.
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