William Humphreys Art Gallery - South African Art Gallery

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William Humphreys Art Gallery Civic Centre Cullinan Crescent Kimberley South Africa www.whag.co.za

The William Humphreys Art Gallery is the only national museum in the Northern Cape. One of the finest in the country, the William Humphreys Art Gallery is situated in the Kimberley Civic Gardens and is a cultural oasis in the Northern Cape. 

The William Humphreys collects, preserves, documents, researches and exhibits works of art which represent the artistic heritage of all South Africans and utilises its assets for the edification, enrichment and enjoyment of the people.

The William Humphreys Art Gallery  was opened in 1952 and named after its principal benefactor, William Benbow Humphreys (1889 - 1965). 

In 1948 William Humphreys donated a substantial portion of his personal collection of 16th and 17th Century Dutch and Flemish Old Masters, British, French and Italian paintings, antique furniture and other objects d'art to the city of Kimberley. This gift, combined with the South African works of art brought together by members of the Art Section of the Kimberley Athenaeum and The Max Greenberg Bequest, formed the nucleus of the collection. The Humphreys Loan Collection and Timlin Collection on indefinite loan from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, augment it. More recently the Meyer Collection of European and Oriental Porcelain and the Lawson Collection of Old Master Drawings and Prints have been acquired.