Graves Gallery is located above the Central Library in the city centre and houses permanent displays from the city's contemporary collection of British and European art along with temporary exhibitions.
The gallery was built with the support of John George Graves (1866-1945), who made his fortune out of one of the country’s earliest mail order businesses. In 1929 Graves offered £30,000 to Sheffield specifying that £20,000 should be spent on an art gallery, with the rest going towards the Library. Originally, the Library and Gallery were to form one side of a large new civic square in the city centre, however the rest of the scheme was abandoned after the Second World War.
Graves was a passionate art collector and donated over 1000 paintings to Sheffield’s collection, which can be seen on regular display at the gallery and Weston Park Museum.
The Central Library and Graves Gallery was officially opened in July 1934 and was dedicated to ‘the service of knowledge and art’. It was a state of the art facility fitted with ‘heating…by invisible panel system’, ‘artificial ventilation’, ‘synchronised electric clocks’ and five different lifts.
One of our favourite art works on display is Grayson Perry's tapestry "Comfort Blanket".
Comfort Blanket (2014) - Grayson Perry explores what Britishness means and questions who defines it in this tapestry. He uses the format of a £10 note to weave together common phrases, people and institutions. Ideas of identity and nationhood are particularly relevant today in light of current debates about migration and belonging. Comfort Blanket presents a complex and contradictory picture of Britain within this context.
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