Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has renamed its main Underground Gallery the Peter Murray Gallery, in honour of the Park’s founder, Sir Peter Murray CBE. The new name was officially unveiled at a special event, attended by artists, supporters, staff and friends of the Park.

The renaming celebrates Sir Peter’s transformative leadership since he founded YSP in 1977 with a £1,000 grant, establishing what would become Europe’s largest sculpture park and a globally respected centre for modern and contemporary sculpture.

Joe Hill, Director and Chief Executive of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said:

“Renaming the Underground Gallery the Peter Murray Gallery is a fitting tribute to a visionary who changed the cultural landscape of Yorkshire and the UK.

“Sir Peter’s belief in making art accessible in extraordinary places has shaped everything we do at YSP. This gallery has hosted some of the most ambitious exhibitions in our programme, and carrying his name forward ensures that his legacy continues to inspire artists and audiences for generations to come.”

Acclaimed artist Andy Goldsworthy, who has a long association with YSP and whose work has featured prominently in the Park’s programme, delivered a special address at the unveiling event. He said:“The renaming of the Underground Gallery in honour of Sir Peter Murray, who founded YSP in 1977, gives title to the voluminous book that the Park has written over the past 50 years, experienced by all who visit - read with their feet, seen with their eyes and felt in their hearts.”

Born in Middlesbrough, Sir Peter studied Fine Art and Education before becoming Principal Lecturer in Art Education at Bretton Hall College, where he founded Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1977. His pioneering vision established Britain’s first dedicated sculpture park, introducing a new model for presenting sculpture outdoors and making art accessible beyond traditional museum walls.

For more than 45 years, Sir Peter led YSP from its humble beginnings to an internationally renowned institution that welcomes around 500,000 visitors annually, employs more than 200 people and contributes more than £10 million to the regional economy. He was awarded a CBE and later a knighthood in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the arts.

Under his leadership, YSP worked with more than 1,000 artists from over 40 countries, championing residencies, major exhibitions and learning programmes that have inspired two generations of artists and creatives.

Set within the 500-acre historic landscape at West Bretton, the Peter Murray Gallery is one of YSP’s four indoor gallery spaces. Opened in the early 2000s, the gallery established itself as a prestigious venue for large-scale, site-responsive exhibitions by leading international artists.

Recent notable exhibitions in the gallery include the current Hold to This Earth, the first group exhibition presented in the gallery in 20 years, bringing together more than 60 works by contemporary Indigenous North American artists from Tia Collection; William Kentridge: The Pull of Gravity, comprising more than 40 works made between 2007 and 2024; and Bharti Kher: Alchemies, a powerful exhibition of sculpture and two-dimensional work by one of the world’s leading contemporary artists.

These exhibitions have reinforced the Gallery’s role as a ground-breaking space for ambitious projects that explore landscape, material and community. Its new name celebrates the vision of the person who made such a space possible, while looking ahead to the next generation of artists and audiences who will get to enjoy and experience YSP as a world-leading contemporary arts space.

Notes to Editors 
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Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG
Near Wakefield and Barnsley – M1 Junction 38
+44 (0)1924 832631 | ysp.org.uk | @YSPsculpture
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