Nearly all council-owned artwork in storage

The Coventry Tapestry was "irreplaceable", the council said

Nearly all pieces of artwork owned by Coventry City Council have been in storage, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

The 98% figure relates to 6,526 pieces stored this year and is higher than the 2018 figure of up to 94%, before the city's year as UK City of Culture.

Four years ago the approximate value of the council's visual art collection was given as £18.365m.

The council said it wanted to see more artwork on display.

Cabinet member for housing and communities, Labour councillor David Welsh, said looking at what had happened "over the year of City of Culture we've had things like the Daniel Lismore exhibition, we have the Turner Prize".

He added that therefore "we've had some big national, international significant things" in Coventry.

"The balance between trying to have the national significant things during City of Culture and local collection is obviously a challenge, but I think we have the best of both."

Lady Godiva’s Prayer, by Edwin Landseer

Following an FOI request, it was revealed that this year the council owned 6,673 pieces of artwork

Following an FOI request from BBC CWR, it was revealed that this year the authority owned 6,673 pieces of artwork, 50 more than in 2018, with 147 on display in 2022.

Venues including the Herbert Art Gallery, where much of the art is stored, said they were making efforts to rotate as much of the collection as possible.

Asked if there was an argument that perhaps the council should be selling some of this artwork off, in order to raise money for things such as children's services, Mr Welsh said the collection was "really, really important".

A popular sculpture of a horse, Bucephalus, better known locally as Trigger, made a comeback in Coventry in 2018, after a major restoration

He added: "If you look at things like The Coventry Tapestry it is irreplaceable, another piece that we've brought back to life, restored and it's available in St Mary's Guildhall in the original spot for people to see.

"There are other pieces as well which are important historically as part of our culture and how we've moved as a city and they may not all be on display in the gallery, but they're available online.

"I think it's really important that a city like Coventry has that for people to access in different ways." Mr Welsh also said: "We've come so far, but I'm going to keep on pushing. I do want to see more public art on display." Asked if she had an idea of the turnover of art at the Herbert, cultural and creative director for Culture Coventry Trust, Marguerite Nugent, said she thought it was "really hard to say in terms of percentage of the collection".

Ms Nugent added "we do try" to "rotate the collections as often as we can".

She added: "We change displays about 10 times a year, different galleries... and we have changing exhibitions as well."

A water nymph statue, called The Naiad, was created more than 60 years ago

The council's David Welsh, seen with a Lowry image, said he wanted to see more public art on display