Impressions Gallery is an independent contemporary photography gallery in Bradford, England. It was established in 1972 and located in York until moving to Bradford in 2007. Impressions Gallery also runs a photography bookshop, publishes its own books and sells prints. It is one of the oldest venues for contemporary photography in Europe.
The gallery was founded by Val Williams and husband Andrew Sproxton in November 1972, opening in York with two exhibitions, Butlin’s by the Sea by Martin Parr and Daniel Meadows (its first exhibition), and Whitby by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe.[3][4][5][6]:25 Parr and Meadows showed work at Impressions throughout the 1970s, with solo shows of Parr’s Home Sweet Home in 1974 and Beauty Spots in 1976 and Meadows’ Free Photographic Omnibus in 1974 and Clayton Ward in 1978.
In 1976 the gallery moved to Colliergate in York, then moved again to nearby Castlegate in York in 1992. In 2007 the gallery moved to Centenary Square, Bradford.[8]
The gallery’s archive, dating back to 1972, was given to the National Media Museum, Bradford, in 2013. It is called the ‘Impressions Gallery Archive’, a part of the National Photography Collection.