Hayward Gallery , 1968-present London County Council , 1889-1965 Greater London Council , 1965-1986 Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts , 1940-1945 Arts Council of Great Britain , 1945-1994 Arts Council of England , 1994-

Hayward Gallery , 1968-present London County Council , 1889-1965 Greater London Council , 1965-1986 Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts , 1940-1945 Arts Council of Great Britain , 1945-1994 Arts Council of England , 1994-

There was a clear need for a London exhibition gallery as early as 1949 to accommodate large international exhibitions, which other European capitals were able to do with ease. The Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) founded 1945, the incorporated successor of the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), had made use of other galleries for large exhibitions.
In 1958, the London County Council announced its intention to build an exhibition gallery on the South Bank to provide a space for large exhibitions. They generously agreed to lease the gallery to the Arts Council at a peppercorn rent. The Gallery was designed by the Greater London Council's Department of Architecture and Civic Design led by Geoffrey Horsefall. It was completed by the end of 1967, and the Greater London Council (successor to the London County Council) named it the Hayward Gallery in honour of Sir Isaac Hayward whose personal initiative and was largely responsible for the complex of buildings devoted to the arts on the South Bank.

The Queen opened the Hayward Gallery and its first exhibition - a retrospective of paintings of Henri Matisse - on 9 July 1968.

In 1987 responsibility for managing the Hayward was transferred from the Arts Council to the South Bank Centre, along with the Council's Visual Arts Exhibition Department and the Arts Council Collection, and the Hayward became a client of the Arts Council. The Hayward continued to house and administer the Arts Council Collection, begun in 1946 and comprising more than 7000 works by British artists, on behalf of the Arts Council.

The Hayward's programme concentrates on four areas, including single artist shows, historical themes and artistic movements, art of other cultures and contemporary group shows, as well as running programmes of educational activities including tours, lectures and workshops. The Hayward also organises National Touring Exhibitions with about 25 shows annually touring all over Britain, and every five years mounts a large-scale exhibition known as The British Art Show.

Hayward exhibitions include: Matisse (1968); Frescoes from Florence (1969); Rodin (1970 & 1987); Bridget Riley (1971 & 1992); Lucian Freud (1974 & 1988); the series of Hayward Annuals (1977-1986); Dada & Surrealism Reviewed (1978); Thirties (1980); Edward Hopper (1981); Picasso's Picassos (1981); Renoir (1985); Leonardo Da Vinci (1989); Andy Warhol (1989); The Other Story: Afro-Asian artists in post-war Britain (1989); Art in Latin America (1989); Richard Long (1991); Toulouse-Lautrec (1992); Magritte (1992); The Art of Ancient Mexico (1992); Yves Klein (1995); Howard Hodgkin (1996); Art and Power (1995); Anish Kapoor (1998); Bruce Nauman (1998); Lucio Fontana (1999); Paul Klee (2002)