A civil society group and volunteer organisation called Friends of JAG has been formed to help ensure "the Johannesburg Art Gallery can maintain its collection of Picassos and Rodins, Sekotos and Pierneefs.

[8] The building, which was completed in 1915, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with Robert Howden working as supervising architect, and consists of 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens.

[12] The current collection includes works by Auguste Rodin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Herbert Ward and Henry Moore, and South Africans such as Gerard Sekoto, Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller, Maud Sumner, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae and Pierneef.

The architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, came to South Africa in 1910 to examine the site and begin the designs, after Lady Florence Phillips had secured funding from the city for a purpose-built museum.

The Friends of JAG have also lobbied to support & raise funds for Johannesburg Art Gallery,[19] and assist with running activities and educational programmes, intended "to nourish the roots of culture".

[20] There are growing concerns about City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality's poor maintenance of the Lutyens building, combined with deteriorating gallery conditions, such as water leaks and a lack of temperature control.