We love art and are delighted to welcome visitors to view a range of artwork on display in our galleries. The museum is home to approximately 600 pieces of art, spread across five impressive collections: The Edwin Clephan Memorial Collection, Spence Bequest, Local Art, Modern Art and Sculpture.
The Edwin Clephan Memorial Collection was bequeathed to the Museum in the 1930s and is one of the founding collections of the museum. It contains 94 pieces of fine art, and includes a significant oil painting, the ‘Dice Players’, by Georges de La Tour. We also display a number of portraits, screen prints, pastels and beautiful watercolour paintings from artists including J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Girtin, George Elgood and John Varley.
The Spence Bequest includes a number of pieces of art, notably the collection of First World War watercolours by Colonel Spence. These unique artworks depict life at this time and the experience of being in the trenches. Additional pieces include family portraits and a medieval panel painting called ‘Knights Jousting’.
We are continuously proud of our local area, and so we have a collection dedicated to Teesside and its people. This local art collection includes seven civic portraits along with landscape pictures of Stockton..
The modern art collection is made up of around 10 pieces of modern and abstract art. These fascinating pieces range from impressions of ICI to silk screen prints by Bridget Riley.
The majority of our sculptures come from the Ions collection, which range from bronze sculptures by Morreau and Beer to striking marble statues. There is also a plaster cast of Lord Castlereagh, a marble bust of Alexandra of Denmark and a bronze bust of Harold Macmillan.
Find out more about details about our public artwork collection on Art UK website.
This painting is of a small terrier and her pups lying in the straw. During the 19th century there was a growing affection for domestic animals, and many artists were paid to paint them. Armfield’s career was based on portraying horses and hounds. He was considered one of England’s finest animal artists.
