The Atkinson: Collections
The Atkinson is Southport’s relatively new home for music, theatre, art, poetry, literature and history, right in the middle of Lord Street in Southport. It houses almost 3000 works of art dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries. The collection includes a very fine group of 18th century portraits and many artists’ self-portraits including examples by John Bratby and Christian Seybold.
The Atkinson is in the process of digitising its collection; some of the collection can be seen on the Art UK website.
Highlights of the 20th century collection include several paintings by Walter Sickert and fellow members of the Camden Town School such as Charles Ginner as well as paintings by Scottish Colourists, namely Arthur Melville, JD Fergusson and Samuel Peploe. Key works from World War I include a painting of a mounted trooper by Alfred Munnings and a battle scarred landscape by Paul Nash. The collection of 20th century British sculpture is small but very high quality and includes good examples by Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink and Jacob Epstein.
There are numerous important watercolours and oils by major British artists including Sargent, Steer, Landseer, BW Leader, John Sell Cotman and William Henry Hunt, as well as a significant collection of marine and coastal paintings. Northern artists are very well represented with good examples by LS Lowry, Theodore Major and Harry Rutherford as well work by Liverpool artists such as Arthur Dooley, Nicholas Horsfield and Adrian Henri.
Unusually for a Northern municipal collection there are many Continental works of art including a painting by the French Salon painter Rosa Bonheur, an early large-scale allegory by Nicolas Loir and a Dutch townscape by Willem Koekkoek.
The Atkinson also offers various exhibitions throughout the year – please click here for further information.
Caption: The Atkinson, Southport. Photograph by Jeff Buck
Further information:
- Opening times: Monday-Saturday. 10.00 am-4.00 pm; closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays
- Free admission
- Location: The Atkinson, Lord Street, Southport PR8 1DB
- Getting there: By Road: from the South take the M6 to exit 26; the M58 will take you to Ormskirk and then take the A570 to Southport; from the North follow the A59 from Preston (exit 31 from the M6) and then follow the signs to Southport. By Train: Southport station is just three minutes walk from the venue. Northern Rail operates regular services to Southport from Manchester Airport, Manchester (Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria stations), Bolton and Wigan; By Bus: Merseytravel operate a number of bus services to and from Southport
- Contact 01704 533333
