Art galleries

Art galleries

Whether you’ve got half an hour or all day, Manchester’s many art galleries are a great way to spend some time, with collections that range from the classical to the contemporary. Many offer free admission and you don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the galleries.

Richard Goodall Gallery

103 High Street M4 1HG
Tel: (0161) 834 3330
www.richardgoodallgallery.com

Located in the Northern Quarter the tow Richard Goodall galleries are brilliant for viewing the best in pop art, with cartoonists, fantasy artists and record sleeve designers regularly exhibiting their work.

Chinese Arts Centre

39-43 Edge Street M4 1HW
Tel: (0161) 832 7271
www.36mc-idea.org.uk

This excellent gallery focuses of the changing world of the Far East in fascinating ways, unearthing artists such as Ji Weiyu and Song Tao.

Manchester Craft and Design Centre

17 Oak Street, Northern Quarter M4 5JD
Tel: (0161) 832 4274
www.crdatanddesign.com

This creative hub in the city’s Northern Quarter offers exhibitions featuring contemporary craft ideas from around the UK alongside a cafe and an impressive range of independent shops.

Castlefield Gallery

2 Hewitt Street M15 4GB
Tel: (0161) 832 8034
www.castlefeldgallery.co.uk

One of the city’s most well renowned modern art galleries, the Castlefield Gallery is currently showcasing a new collection of work entitled “The Social Lives of Objects”, examining our relationships with material goods.

Manchester Art Gallery

Mosley Street M2 3JL
Tel: (0161) 235 8888
www.manchestergalleries.org

The premier space for traditional art in Manchester, The Art Gallery houses a collection from Pre-Raphaelites painters, such as Ford Maddox Brown, to contemporary artists such as David Hockney.

Cornerhouse

70 Oxford Street M1 5NH
Tel: (0161) 200 1500
www.cornerhouse.org

In addition to gallery space spread over three floors that examines modern international work, the Cornerhouse also hosts Manchester’s largest independent cinema and a cafe and bookstore.

Urbis

Cathedral Gardens M4 3BG
Tel: (0161) 605 8200
www.urbis.org.uk

Urbis is an exhibition centre about city life. On your visit you can explore exhibitions about contemporary art & design, music, fashion, popular culture and the people who make our cities what they are.

John Rylands Library

Oxford Road M13 9PP
Tel: (0161) 275 3751
Email: jrul.visitors@manchester.ac.uk
www.library.manchester.ac.uk

The John Rylands Library on Deansgate, houses some of the most significant books and manuscripts ever produced. The magnificent neo-gothic building in Manchester’s city centre is a major visitor attraction as well as a research library of world renown.

The collections include exquisite medieval illuminated manuscripts, examples of the earliest forms of European printing including the Gutenberg Bible, as well as the personal papers of distinguished historical figures including Elizabeth Gaskell, John Dalton and John Wesley.

Whitworth Art Gallery

Oxford Road M15 6ER
Tel: (0161) 275 7450
www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

The Whitworth Art Gallery has been part of the cultural landscape of Manchester since 1889, when it was created as the first English gallery in a park as the Whitworth Institute. The Whitworth was created to inspire the region’s textile industry, give pleasure to Manchester citizens and to instruct students and artists about the visual arts.

The Whitworth has long been recognised as one of the North West’s finest collections, with a little over 50,000 objects; its collections of works on paper, wallpapers and flat textiles are amongst the finest outside London.

The Whitworth’s regular opening hours are Monday - Saturday 10.00 – 17.00, Sunday 12.00 – 16.00. Admission is free.

The Gallery is situated in Whitworth Park, opposite Manchester Royal Infirmary. It is about 1.5 miles south of Manchester city centre, to the south of The University of Manchester campus. Further directions and maps are available on The University of Manchester's web site.