Fry Art Gallery | Home to the North West Essex Collection of art

Welcome

The Fry Public Art Gallery was opened in 1987 and houses an impressive number of paintings, prints, illustrations, wallpapers and decorative designs by artists of the 20th century and the present day who have local connections and have made a significant contribution to their field. There is an emphasis on those who for a variety of reasons settled in Great Bardfield between the early thirties of the last century and the death in 1983 of John Aldridge RA who had lived in the village for fifty years.

The Gallery is run by volunteers, both invigilators when it is open to the public and other helpers throughout the year. Please contact us if you would like to become more involved.

The Fry Art Gallery is open for 2023 from Sunday 2nd April to Sunday 29th October. Our opening exhibitions this year are:

Art and Design from the permanent collection, and Interwoven Lives: Marianne Straub, Great Bardfield & Friends.

Online Shop

The Fry’s online shop has a range of gifts, from textiles to books.

Please click HERE for more information.

The Fry receives no regular funding and the pandemic has affected visitor numbers during. Should you wish to contribute to our running costs, please use the button below.

Donate Here

Become a member

If you would like to become a Fry Gallery Member you can now do so online. Please choose an option below.

Annual Membership £10

Life Membership £150

Visit the Collection

Browse the Fry Gallery collection online here.

Click here

Work of the week

WORK OF THE WEEK 65: HAPPY CHRISTMAS MARIANNE

Marianne Straub preserved Christmas cards and other ephemera in the scrapbook which is on show in the Fry Gallery. Every week we open it at a different page. This week we have cards from: 1 - Hans Fischer. Hans and his wife Bianca (née Wassmuth) met Marianne as fellow...

Work of the Week 64: Marianne Straub, from Bolton to Bardfield

This week’s page from Marianne Straub’s scrapbook, on show in the Fry Art Gallery, tells us more about the extent of her friendship circle. During the time that Marianne lived in Great Bardfield, in the 1950s and 1960s, she became firm friends with the local artists,...

Work of the Week 63: Marianne Straub’s designer friends

This week’s work is another gorgeous double-page spread from Marianne Straub’s scrapbook. On the left-hand page, we have a card from Misha Black, with whom Marianne had worked since the 1940s. He commissioned Marianne’s fabrics for the upholstery and curtains in the...

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Exhibitions

Art and Design

2nd April - 29th October 2023 Art and Design will draw from our Permanent Collection works which emphasise the contribution which the artists made to British design.

Interwoven Lives: Marianne Straub, Great Bardfield and Friends

2nd April - 2nd July 2023 Marianne Straub (1909 – 1994) was one of the most important commercial textile designers of the twentieth century. During her most productive years in the 1950s and 60s, she was head of design at Warner & Sons in Braintree, and chose to...

News and Events

Chloë Cheese Workshop

Tickets £85.00 available on the Fry Art Gallery website at: https://the-fry-art-gallery.arttickets.org.uk/

Thaxted Festival special event: Fry Art Gallery Private View with Music

Enjoy an exclusive evening private view in the Gallery of the two current exhibitions: Art and Design and Interwoven lives – Marianne Straub, Great Bardfield and Friends, with a short introductory talk followed by entertainment from local musicians. The ticket price...