Astley Cheetham Art Gallery
Tameside Museums and Galleries are part of the Greater Manchester Museums Group. Find out more about our connected history here.
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery – 2017 opening hours 10am-3pm:-
- Saturday 7 January
- Saturday 21 January
- Saturday 4 February
- Saturday 18 February
- Saturday 4 March
- Saturday 18 March
- Saturday 1 April
- Saturday 6 May
- Saturday 20 May
- Saturday 3 June
- Saturday 17 June
- Saturday 1 July
- Saturday 15 July
- Saturday 5 August
- Saturday 12 August
- Saturday 19 August
- Saturday 26 August
- Saturday 2 September
- Saturday 16 September
- Saturday 7 October
- Saturday 21 October
- Saturday 4 November
- Saturday 18 November
- Saturday 2 December
- Saturday 16 December
Tameside’s Best – August 2017 – February 2018
PEOPLE’S choices are at the heart of a special exhibition at the Astley Cheetham Art Gallery in Stalybridge.
The paintings, which all come from the Tameside Council collection, are divided into five categories - Renaissance masterpieces, animal art, portraits, landscapes and still Life - and each includes a people’s choice: a work selected by members of the public in an online survey.
Many of the works on display could be termed hidden gems and are being exhibited for the first time in several years.
The paintings include “Goldfish and Horse” by BR Swinnerton who was a member of the East London Group. This was a society of mainly working-class artists best known for their depictions of deserted East End streets. However, they also produced portraits and depictions of domestic interiors. Swinnerton worked in a piano factory and painted in his spare time.
“Goldfish and Horse” was displayed at the group’s first annual exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery in 1928.
The portraits section features “The Maid Servant” by William Arthur Breakspeare (1881). In an interesting departure from Victorian convention, Breakspeare is showing that beauty is not bound by class.
Breakspeare studied in Paris and was a founding member of the Birmingham Art Circle in 1879.
“Holy Family with St Anne and St John”, attributed to Giulio Romano (1499-1546), is one of the Tameside collection’s masterpieces. It was acquired by the Cheetham family on their overseas travels in the 19th century. Like their fellow Victorian entrepreneurs, the Cheethams collected artworks that could demonstrate their knowledge of history and culture.
Romano was a painter and architect who studied under Raphael in the early 16th century. Another version of this painting hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
Cllr Ged Cooney, Tameside Council’s executive member with responsibility for museums and galleries, said: “The borough art collection contains some wonderful pieces of art. I’m delighted that this exhibition offers the chance to see more of it – especially works chosen by the public.”
You can see the exhibition of more than 30 works until February. The Astley Cheetham Gallery can be found above Stalybridge Library, Trinity Street, and is open on the first and third Saturdays of each month (10am to 3pm) as well as every Saturday in August.
Welcome
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery in Stalybridge was built as a gift to the town by John Frederick Cheetham and his wife Beatrice Astley in 1901. The gallery originally opened as a lecture theatre and then the space was turned into a gallery to house the Astley Cheetham Art Collection, bequeathed in 1932. This collection has grown with gifts and donations throughout the twentieth century and is one of the most interesting small regional collections.
Some comments from visitors to the gallery include:
“Great little gallery. A real hidden gem in Stalybridge. We will be back!”
“Fantastic display enjoyed by all the family. This was well worth the visit and we will definitely come again.”
“A lovely exhibition. Something to do for old and young alike.”
The paintings shown here are Avenue, Broughton by David Montagu Scott, Cronies by Buckley Ousey and Winter, Stalybridge by George Hodgkinson.
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery is situated in Stalybridge town centre, above Stalybridge Library, just outside of Manchester. It is accessible by car, bus and train. There are parking spaces just outside of the building. Please note there is currently no disabled access to the gallery and is only accessible by stairs.
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery's Access Statement
View highlights from The Astley Cheetham Art Collection
Please note that not all paintings are on display. Please check before you visit.
Your Paintings website - see the nations paintings online
The Public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC have joined forces and are now offering everyone a chance to see all paintings held in public collections in the UK.
As part of this project you can now see many paintings from the Astley Cheetham Art Collection on the Art UK website .
NICE Paintings (The National Inventory of Continental European Paintings)
You can now see some of the artworks held by the Astley Cheetham Art Collection online.
This is the first phase of the National Inventory Research Project's aim of creating a searchable illustrated inventory of all 22,000 pre-1900 Continental European oil paintings in the UK's public collections.
The database currently contains nearly 8,000 records and over 2,500 images from 200 museums across the UK.
If you would like to be kept informed of future events and activities, please contact us via the details below requesting to be added to our emailing list.
and follow us on Twitter 
| Contact Information |
|
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery
Trinity Street
Stalybridge
SK15 2BN
|
|
|
