Bury Art Museum is a public museum and art gallery in the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, northern England, owned by Bury Council.Formerly known as Bury Museum and Art Gallery, it was renamed Bury Art Museum in 2011.
The museum is home to the Wrigley Collection, an assemblage of over two hundred oil paintings, watercolours, prints and ceramics accumulated by the Victorian paper manufacturer Thomas Wrigley . The collection includes works by Turner, Constable, and Landseer. The donation of his collection to Bury was the impetus for the foundation and construction of the museum and art gallery. The building was designed by the Manchester firm of Woodhouse and Willoughby. Donations of artworks quickly followed its opening on 9 October 1901 by the Earl of Derby, including donations from the town's Member of Parliament James Kenyon.
In 2005, a £1.2 million refurbishment was carried out, designed to provide a brand new museum, art gallery and library all under one roof. This includes a combined Museum and Archives Centre which, based on a radical re-think, uses artefacts, documentation and art to tell the story of the town. The most recent renovation includes modern artefacts such as iPods and electric iRobot vacuum cleaners.
The council decided in 2006 to sell Lowry's painting The Riverbank at auction in order to fund part of its social services budget shortfall. This has resulted in the government's Museums, Libraries and Archives Council removing Bury Council's accredited museum status. The authority will now have limited funding options and will be ineligible for some grants.
