The collection of works on paper at Leeds Art Gallery includes historic watercolours by ever-popular artists such as JMW Turner and John Sell Cotman, prints by Rembrandt, shelter drawings by Henry Moore and work by contemporary artists such as Paula Rego and Rose Garrard.
There is usually a show of watercolours, drawings or prints from the permanent collection on show in the Watercolour Gallery, otherwise works can be viewed by appointment.
Leeds Art Gallery is fortunate to have an impressive collection of English watercolours. Since the 1920s the Art Gallery has actively collected historic watercolours, and over the years several important bequests have been made to the Art Gallery. In 1938 a bequest from a great collector of John Sell Cotman, Sydney Decimus Kitson, left Leeds with one of the largest collections of the work of Cotman. In 1952 Leeds received a bequest from the siblings Agnes and Norman Lupton who together had gathered a representative collection of English drawings and watercolours as well as an outstanding collection of prints by Rembrandt.
During World War II many artists became official war artists. In 1947 the works produced were distributed to galleries by the War Artists Advisory Committee. Amongst those given to Leeds are shelter drawings by Henry Moore and miners depicted by Graham Sutherland. The war artists produced some of the most powerful images in our collection.
Without the funds enjoyed in earlier years at the gallery we are no longer able to collect works on paper as actively as before, however we do acquire contemporary works on paper when we can; recent acquisitions include prints by Paula Rego, a drawing and watercolour by Rose Garrard and large scale charcoal drawings by Peter Randall-Page. Occasionally we are also able to acquire important historic works such as the Farnley Book of Birds by JMW Turner acquired in 1985 with help from a public appeal.