Exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery
A free attraction in the heart of the city, the gallery collection comprises a wide range of modern and contemporary art along with an extensive programme of events.
Visit our what’s on page to find out what events are happening during your trip to Leeds Art Gallery.
Discover our latest exhibitions
Permanent displays
Entrance hall & staircase
The entrance hall is home to important works from the collection including sculptures by Antony Gormley.
Götz’s stunning wall painting Xanadu links the lower and upper galleries, leading up to the light-filled space above. Both colourful and contemporary it is juxtaposed against the Victorian architecture of the gallery.
Find our Gift Shop in the entrance hall too.
Lower galleries
The Ziff Gallery displays a collection of Victorian art including favourites such as John Atkinson Grimshaw.
Temporary exhibitions are held across The White Gallery and Small and Large Lyons Galleries.
The new Archive Gallery (formerly the Lower Sculpture Gallery) sits between Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute, and houses displays from the Archive of Sculptors’ Papers.
Landing
The Lives of Others
Taken at face value, a portrait offers an intimate glimpse into a historical moment through the depiction of an individual. This display takes a different approach bringing together a wide range of works that feature images of people, and sometimes where people are notable by their absence, suggesting new and sometimes unlikely alliances to get us to consider how our contemplation of others might be affected by the social and psychic relations between people across time and space.
Artists include Mark Gertler, Leon Kossoff, Jacob Kramer, Winifred Nicolson, Stanley Spencer, and many others.
East Gallery
Object – Space – Time: John Tunnard amidst the English Modernists
The collection of early 20th century modernist art includes a group of distinctive paintings by John Tunnard (1900-1971). Most of them were a gift to the Gallery in 1997 and here we present them together alongside paintings and sculpture by his contemporaries. Many of these artists knew him and his work, though Tunnard took a singular course, and the display locates small groups of work by the lesser-known Tunnard, amongst other works by Paul Nash, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Edward Wadsworth and C R W Nevinson, and more recent artists, to uncover alliances and mutual interests underscored by affiliations to the natural world.
Archive Gallery
Sculpture Photographed: A View from the Archive of Sculptors’ Papers
Photography and sculpture have existed in close proximity ever since the birth of photography in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Sculpture has remained an important subject throughout photographic history, utilised by some of the most well-known photographers over the past 150 years, from William Henry Fox Talbot to Walker Evans.
This display explores the role played by photography across the history and practice of sculpture from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. It reveals the varying ways that sculptors have harnessed photography in the production and dissemination of their works, while photography has in turn re-examined and provided new interpretations of sculptures, both old and new.
Whilst you're here, don't miss...
Artspace
Artspace is a relaxed, family friendly, creative space in the heart of the gallery.
The space is open to all and we invite you to enjoy our school holiday programme. See what’s on and explore activities for children and young people in Leeds.
The Mezzanine
A detailed timeline celebrating the history of Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute.
Historically, this area of the gallery displayed Leeds Sculpture Collection. However, as the Mezzanine is only accessible by stairs, no art work is now displayed in this location.
You can see the timeline reproduced online on the Henry Moore Institute’s website.
Archive of Sculptors’ Papers
Visit Leeds Museums and Galleries’ Archive of Sculptors’ Papers located at the Henry Moore Institute.
Leeds Museums and Galleries Archive of Sculptors’ Papers is a rich and fascinating collection which tells the story of British sculpture.
The working lives of hundreds of sculptors are captured in their photographs, letters, drawings and sketchbooks, alongside film, digital records and even tools and costume.
The archive is free to use, but visits must be booked in advance so that we can get items ready for viewing.
Visits can be booked Tuesday to Friday, 10am–5pm, but please check the Henry Moore Institute website before planning your visit.
Support us
Support our work to maintain Leeds’ world-class collection of art and inspire future generations.