Hartlepool Art Gallery

Hartlepool Arts and Museums Service began in 1920 with the opening of the Gray Art Gallery & Museum, the building and the original collection of paintings having been donated by Captain W. Gray, as a thanks-giving for the safe return of his son from World War I. The fine art permanent collection includes works by John Wilson Carmichael (1799–1868), Lucian Freud, Basil Beattie, James Clark and Frank Henry Mason. Most of this is housed in the Hartlepool Art Gallery which opened in 1996. The building is a magnificently renovated Victorian church with a 100 foot clock tower which is open to visitors. Artist who have exhibited at the Gray Gallery include Michael Dunn, Harry Thubron, Eric Atkinson and Deryck Crowther.