Mid-Century Moderns

From late August 2026, Nottingham Castle’s Collections Gallery will be home to a new display highlighting our stunning collection of mid-20th Century British prints from David Hockney and other contemporary British artists. 

Mid-Century Moderns will explore several prints from the Museum’s collection that are not usually on display to the public. 

Included in your Standard Admission to Nottingham Castle – pay once, visit all year round!

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David Hockney had one of the longest careers in British art, making work right up to his recent death, just ahead of his 89th birthday. Few British artists have achieved such international fame and in Britain his celebrity, and the public affection in which he was held, spread far beyond the world of art. In celebration of his life, this display looks at the lithograph by him purchased for Nottingham’s collection in 1965, along with art by some of his contemporaries.

For artists like Alan Davie, Evelyn Gibbs and William Scott, who grew up before the outbreak of war, the years afterwards brought a sense of reflection and experimentation – how to make art after the devastations of what their generation had experienced?

Meanwhile the younger generation – including Hockney and Patrick Caulfield – wanted to challenge the mainstream and make art in new ways that better reflected their own lives.

Movements such as Abstract Art and Pop Art are explored here – including artworks by Hockney, Caulfield, Scott and Davie that were purchased for Nottingham soon after they were made, suggesting the Museum’s immediate interest in reflecting these new movements in the collection.

Included in your Standard Admission to Nottingham Castle – pay once, visit all year round!

BOOK TICKETS