The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall/Purcell Room) and also the National Theatre and BFI Southbank repertory cinema. Following a rebranding of the South Bank Centre to Southbank Centre in early 2007, the Hayward Gallery was known as the Hayward until early 2011.
Description The Hayward Gallery was built by Higgs and Hill and opened on 9 July 1968. Its massing and extensive use of exposed concrete construction are features typical of Brutalist architecture. The initial concept was designed, with the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, as an addition to the Southbank Centre arts complex by team leader Norman Engleback, assisted by John Attenborough, Ron Herron and Warren Chalk, two members of the later founded group Archigram, of the Department of Architecture and Civic Design of the Greater London Council. Warren Chalk then developed the site plan and connective first floor walkways, while Ron Herron worked on the acoustics for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Alan Waterhouse, then Dennis Crompton, worked on the designs for the Hayward. The building is named after Sir Isaac Hayward, a former leader of the London County Council, the GLC's predecessor..Joanna Drew was the founding director; Ralph Rugoff served as director from 2006 until 2026, when he was succeeded by Sally Tallant.
Exhibitions The Hayward does not house a permanent collection. Instead, it hosts three or four major temporary exhibitions of modern or contemporary artworks each year. From 1968 to 1986, the gallery was managed by the Arts Council of Great Britain, but management of the gallery then passed to Southbank Centre. The gallery is also the base of Arts Council England's National Touring Exhibitions programme, as it was, until 2002, of the Arts Council Collection. Unlike British galleries with permanent collections who receive local or central government funding, but in common with other temporary exhibitions at the London public galleries, the Hayward charges admission fees. The Hayward's exhibition policy embraces visual art from all periods: past shows having included the works of Leonardo da Vinci to Edvard Munch and beyond. The programme, however, has tended to concentrate on surveys of contemporary art which complement the spaces and powerful concrete structure of the building, such as those of works by Dan Flavin and Antony Gormley. It has hosted two surveys of works from the Arts Council Collection: British Art 1940–1980 and How to Improve the World: 60 Years of British Art.
Architecture
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