Nottingham Castle Museum opened in 1878, the first municipal art museum outside London. Bequests and the work of the Contemporary Art Society have complemented purchases that have established it as a regional centre for Modern British Art. It acquired an important group of Jacob Epstein sculptures, and amongst a group of Nottingham-born artists Dame Laura Knight and her husband Harold Knight are perhaps the most well-known. Amongst the many highlights are works by Joseph Southall, Walter Sickert, William Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, Mark Gertler, David Bomberg, William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth, Marion Adnams and Tristram Hillier, Matthew Smith, L. S. Lowry, Ivon Hitchens, Stanley Spencer and Anna Zinkeisen.