The Fry Art Gallery is an art gallery

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

 located in Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In its present form the gallery was established in 1985 and it is managed by the Fry Art Gallery Society. The Gallery's permanent collection is rotated annually, these works are complemented by changing exhibitions in the gallery.

The Fry houses an impressive number of art works by artists who have local connections with north west Essex. Artists of note include Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden, CBE, RA was a British painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He was also famous for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture...

, Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious

Eric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...

, Michael Rothenstein

Michael Rothenstein

William Michael Rothenstein RA was an English printmaker, painter and art teacher.-Early life:Born in Hampstead, London, on 19 March 1908, he was the youngest of four children born to the celebrated artist, Sir William Rothenstein and his wife, Alice Knewstub.-Art:He was home schooled and studied...

, Michael Ayrton

Michael Ayrton

Michael Ayrton was an English artist and writer, known as a painter, printmaker and sculptor, and also as a critic, broadcaster and novelist...

, Paul Beck, Sir George Clausen RA, Robert Colquhoun

Robert Colquhoun

Robert Colquhoun was a Scottish painter, printmaker and theatre set designer.Colquhoun was born in Kilmarnock and was educated at Kilmarnock Academy...

, Robert MacBryde

Robert MacBryde

Robert MacBryde was a Scottish still-life and figure painter and a theatre set designer.MacBryde was born in Maybole and worked in a factory for 5 years after leaving school. He studied art at Glasgow School of Art from 1932 to 1937...

, and the photographer, Edwin Smith

Edwin Smith (photographer)

Edwin George Herbert Smith was an English photographer. He is best known for his distinctive vignettes of English gardens, landscapes, and architecture...

. Each summer the gallery hangs works by members of the Fry family after whom the gallery is named.

Great Bardfield Artists

The gallery has a special emphasis on the dynamic Great Bardfield Artists

Great Bardfield Artists

The Great Bardfield Artists were a community of artists who lived in Great Bardfield, a village in north west Essex, England, during the middle years of the 20th century....

 community which settled in the Essex village of Great Bardfield

Great Bardfield

Great Bardfield is a large village in Essex, England.The Great Lodge at Bardfield is a Grade II listed building, which built in the 16th century and was given to Anne of Cleves by Henry VIII as one of several properties as part of a generous settlement for an amicable divorce. The grounds include...

, during the middle years of the last century. Bardfield artists of note, many of whom having had exhibitions at the Fry, include John Aldridge RA, Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden, CBE, RA was a British painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He was also famous for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture...

, Richard Bawden, John Bolam

John Bolam

John Bolam is generally rated as one of Britain’s lesser post war artists.-Background:John Bolam was born in 1922 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He originally studied painting at Hornsey School of Art and furniture design at High Wycombe School of Art...

, George Chapman

George Chapman

George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...

, Bernard Cheese, Stanley Clifford-Smith

Stanley Clifford-Smith

Stanley Clifford-Smith was an English Expressionist painter and textile designer who was active as an artist in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.-Early life:...

, Audrey Cruddas

Audrey Cruddas

Audrey Cruddas was an English costume and scene designer, painter and potter. Born in Johannesburg she moved to England with her parents when she was an infant. After leaving school she studied art at St. John's Wood School of Art, Royal Academy Schools and Bram Shaw School of Drawing and...

, Tirzah Garwood, Joan Glass

Joan Glass

Elizabeth Joan Glass , was an English textile designer and painter.-Youth:Glass was born in Orpington, Kent. She was the oldest of three daughters born to John Pomeroy Glass and Edith Mary Muirhead. Her father, was a senior partner and later chairman of James Templeton & Co, then one of the leading...

, Walter Hoyle, Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious

Eric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...

, Sheila Robinson, Michael Rothenstein

Michael Rothenstein

William Michael Rothenstein RA was an English printmaker, painter and art teacher.-Early life:Born in Hampstead, London, on 19 March 1908, he was the youngest of four children born to the celebrated artist, Sir William Rothenstein and his wife, Alice Knewstub.-Art:He was home schooled and studied...

, Kenneth Rowntree

Kenneth Rowntree

Kenneth Rowntree was a British artist.A Quaker, he was a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He worked for the War Artists' Advisory Committee.He one of the Great Bardfield Artists.Reference:...

,and Marianne Straub

Marianne Straub

Marianne Straub was one of the leading designers of textiles in Britain during the 1940s, 50s and 60s.She was born in the village of Amriswil, Switzerland on 23 September 1909. Her father was a textile merchant so it was no surprise that she was soon attracted to a career in textiles. She studied...

.