Towner Gallery
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| Established | 1923 in Old Town, moved to College Road in 2009. |
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| Location | College Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex |
| Visitors | 110,000 (2012) |
| Website | Towner Website |
Coordinates: 50°46′00″N 0°16′43″E / 50.7666°N 0.2785°E
Towner is Eastbourne's museum of art. From its opening in 1923 the Towner Art Gallery was located in an 18th-century manor house in Manor Gardens, in the Old Town district of Eastbourne. It has been relocated to a new state-of-the-art gallery, adjacent to the Eastbourne Congress Theatre, Devonshire Park which opened in April 2009.
The Towner Gallery opened in 1923 following the death of Alderman John Towner who left 22 paintings and £6,000 for the establishment of an art gallery. Victorian narrative painting, mainly of animals and children by predominantly mainstream artists formed the basis of the bequest reflecting its domestic rationale, a tendency that was continued throughout the first 80 years of the Towner’s history, located within the 18th-century manor house. The Towner collection now numbers over 4,000 art objects including oil paintings, watercolours, works on paper, etchings, prints, sculpture, wood cuts and ceramic objects.
The Towner Art Gallery’s first curator started the practice of arranging temporary exhibitions to be shown alongside displays from the permanent collection which have become a major feature of the Towner's programme. As a result of his ‘Pictures of Sussex’ policy the collection gradually increased. Pictures were acquired of subjects relating to Sussex. This scheme was later extended to allow inclusion of pictures executed by Sussex artists regardless of subject matter.
Since the gallery was established it has received donations of work by significant artists including: Walter Sickert, Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore, Alfred Wallis, Frances Hodgkins, Phelan Gibb and David Bomberg.
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