The Fry Art Gallery is an art gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex. Recognised as an Accredited Museum by Arts Council England, it displays work by artists of national significance who lived or worked in North West Essex during the twentieth century and after. The Gallery is known for its comprehensive collection of work by the Great Bardfield Artists, including Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious.
The Fry Art Gallery is home to the North West Essex Collection, a set of more than 3000 works by diverse, nationally important artists who have lived or worked in the area. The collection includes paintings, prints, books, artists’ scrapbooks, ceramics, wallpapers and decorative designs. There is an emphasis on artists who worked in and around Great Bardfield in the middle of the twentieth century, including Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Tirzah Garwood, John Aldridge, Sheila Robinson, Bernard Cheese, Walter Hoyle, Michael Rothenstein, Kenneth Rowntree, George Chapman and Marianne Straub. Artists in the collection with a connection to the wider area include Michael Ayrton, John Bellany, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, Grayson Perry and Keith Vaughan.
The gallery displays a revolving selection of works from the collection in themed exhibitions. In 2016/17 the exhibitions held were: Exploring – Inspirational Places for North West Essex Artists, and three sequential temporary exhibitions: George Chapman – From Bardfield to the Rhondda; Michael Rothenstein – Sustained Invention; and Connections.