Development of the Collection

Computer image of new accessible art store

The Towner Collection contains over 4,000 artworks including oil paintings, watercolours, works on paper, etchings, prints, sculpture, woodcuts and ceramic objects. The collection has developed as a result of people giving artworks, long-term loans and purchases funded by the Friends of the Towner or major arts organisations.

The present Gallery opened in 1923 following the death of Alderman John Towner, a member of Eastbourne Town Council for thirty years. He left 22 Victorian paintings and £6,000 for the establishment of an art gallery.

The Towner Art Gallery's first Curator, Mr Arthur Reeve Fowkes, started the practice of arranging temporary exhibitions to be shown alongside displays from the Collection, which today are a major feature of the Towner's programme.

Since the gallery was established, the Towner has received donations of work by significant artists:

William Sickert
Christopher Wood
Pablo Picasso
Henry Moore
Victor Pasmore
Alfred Wallis
Frances Hodgkins
Phelan Gibb
David Bomberg

Eric Ravilious
A key element of the Collection is the work of Eric Ravilious (who studied and taught at Eastbourne School of Art). The Towner holds the broadest collection of paintings, illustrations and commercial designs in the world by this important, modern British artist of the early 20th century.

Contemporary Art
The Towner houses the Arts Council England South East’s Collection of Contemporary Art. Since 1994 the Towner has bought work in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society (www.contempart.org.uk) through its Special Collections Scheme resulting in the formation of an international collection of contemporary art. Focused around the theme of landscape, the selection includes the works of:

Olafur Eliasson
Julian Opie
Anya Gallaccio
Tacita Dean
Ceal Floyer,
Elizabeth Magill
Jonathan Monk
Graham Gussin

Loan Requests
The Collection receives loan requests from galleries and museums throughout the world. In recent years work has been lent to the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, National Gallery of Wales, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Liverpool, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Ikon Gallery, Baltic and other UK based institutions. The Towner was the largest lender to the Imperial War Museum’s Eric Ravilious Centenary Exhibition in 2003.

For further information and loan requests contact:
Towner Art Gallery
Tel: 01323 415470
Email: townergallery@eastbourne.gov.uk