Number 10 Museum in Residence: The Herbert

Hanging Coventry by Jane Sutton in 10 Downing Street. Picture by Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street

In 2022, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum loaned ten artworks to be displayed in 10 Downing Street, through the Government Art Collection. The works belong to the Museum’s British Life and Landscapes Collection that started in the late 1950s by its first Art Director, John Hewitt.

The collection was formed to reflect the lives of people in Coventry and the landscape of modern Britain. Due to the large exhibition programme currently taking place at the Herbert, these works were not currently on display to the public – so the 10 Downing Street display enables some of the best works from the Collection to be on display outside of Coventry and encountered by new audiences over the next year.

Displaying artworks from the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry. Picture by Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street

The first display at 10 Downing Street featured works by Mary Adshead, Dorothy Annan, Simon Barry, Jane Sutton, Nancy Upshall and Coventry Cathedral’s architect, Basil Spence, all of whom have a Coventry connection. The works depicted the industry, architecture and people of Coventry and Warwickshire.

The second display featured works that show spaces of industry and leisure. A beach scene by Margaret Green is populated by a group of day-trippers from a mining village dressed in their Sunday best, whilst Steelworkers is a striking example by the Official War Artist Roland Pitchforth, creating a stark contrast to a  sumptuous rural scene by Paul Nash from the period between the Wars.

Displayed in two entrance areas of 10 Downing Street from 4 October 2021 for a year, the works were seen by staff and visitors to Number 10.