The History Of Beecroft Art Gallery

Located in Southend on Sea Essex, Beecroft Art Gallery has a large display of beautiful artwork and many other historical pieces on display.

Originally located in West-cliff on Sea, the gallery was founded by Walter Beecroft.  Walter was a solicitor in the local area and had a large eclectic collection of art.

In 1952 Walter obtained a large Edwardian house donated to him by the residents of Southend on Sea to house his collection so that everyone could enjoy it. This led to The Beecroft Gallery forming and over time as Walters collection grew the gallery become large and very popular.

In 2014 the gallery relocated to a larger building the former central library on Victoria Avenue, Southend on Sea.

Image credit: http://www.lovesouthend.co.uk/landmarks-attractions/beecroft-art-gallery-relocation.html
Image credit: https://www.inspirock.com/united-kingdom/southend-on-sea/beecroft-art-gallery-a695729943

What’s On Display

At Beecroft Art Gallery there is a large permanent display of over 2000 artworks varying in date and styles, ranging from 17th century dutch paintings to more new modern contemporary art.

There is also a large display of historical costumes on display as well as temporary exhibitions that run all year through so there is always something new on display along side the permanent gallery displays.

There are some wonderful frames on display that showcase some of the older historical art work.  These are very beautiful frames that really set the artwork off and give a very regal feel to the art they incase.

Here as a little list of some of the things you can expect to see when visiting Beecroft Art Gallery:

  • Artwork by Molenaer, Ruisdael and Berchem.
  • 19th-century artwork by artists including Rossetti, Constable and Edward Lear.
  • A fine bronze by Jacob Epstein.
  • The Thorpe Smith Collection of local landscape views which contains paintings, drawings and prints from as early as 1803.
  • Costume collections from the decades 1920s to the 1970s

There are many more local and beautiful pieces on display.