Rugby Art Gallery and Museum

The Rugby Art Gallery and Museum is a combined art gallery and museum in central Rugby, Warwickshire, in England. The purpose-built building housing it is shared with Rugby library; it was opened in 2000 and was built in the place of Rugby's previous library.^[1][2][3]

Rugby Art Gallery and Museum
Rugby Art Gallery, Museum and Library in 2021
General information
Address	Little Elborow Street, CV21 3BZ
Town or city	Rugby, Warwickshire
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	52.3717°N 1.2645°W / 52.3717; -1.2645
Opened	2000
Design and construction
Architecture firm	CPMG Architects
Website
www.ragm.co.uk

The art gallery holds "The Rugby Collection", over 170 items of 20th century and contemporary British art, including prints, drawings and paintings by artists such as L. S. Lowry, Stanley Spencer, Paula Rego and Graham Sutherland. The collection was built up by Rugby Borough Council from 1946 onwards and still collects "works by British artists of 'promise and renown' ". There is also a "Local Art Collection".^[4][1]

The museum hosts a collection of Roman artefacts, excavated from the nearby Roman town of Tripontium.^[5] It also has a display of the social and industrial history of Rugby,^[6][2] and the "Redding Collection" of some 25,000 mid-20th-century photographic negatives taken at the Rugby photographic studio of George Redding.^[7] In December 2006, the Rugby World Cup was exhibited at the museum.

The facility became the permanent physical home of the World Rugby Hall of Fame in November 2016.^[8] However this was closed in 2021, due to financial pressures on the local council, and lower than expected visitor numbers.^[9][10]

The building also houses the town's visitor centre.^[11]

As part of a national venture called Get it Loud in Libraries, the building has played host to gigs of various music artists such as Plan B and British Sea Power.

Recent Exhibitions[12]

• Rugby's Coronations, 26 April - 23 September 2023
• Join our Club, 1 October to 23 September 2023
• David Remfry RA: We think the World of You. People and Dogs Drawn Together, 11 Feb - 3 June 2023
• David Remfry RA Selects: The Rugby Collection, 11 Feb - 3 June 2023
• The Rugby Open Exhibition, 3 December - 4 February 2022
• ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois, 23 July - 19 November 2022
• The Ipcress Style - costumes from the ITV drama, 14 May - 9 July 2022
• Every Object Tells A Story, 2 February to 16 September 2022
• Body en Thrall, 12 February- 23 April 2022
• Brick by Brick, 27 November - 22 January 2022

See also

• Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum, also in Rugby.

References

1. "Rugby Art Gallery and Museum Art Collections". Art UK. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
2. "Directory of attractions - Rugby Art Gallery and Museum". The Rugby Town. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
3. "Rugby Library and Information Centre". Warwickshire County Council. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
4. "The Rugby Collection". www.rugby.gov.uk. Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
5. "The Archaeology Collection". www.ragm.co.uk. Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
6. "The Social History Collection". www.rugby.gov.uk. Rugby Museum and Art Gallery. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
7. "The Redding Photographic Collection". www.ragm.co.uk. Rugby Museum and Art Gallery. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
8. "World Rugby Hall of Fame: Jonny Wilkinson attends launch". BBC News Coventry and Warwickshire. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
9. "World Rugby Hall of Fame set to close as deal ends and council tightens purse strings". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
10. "Council votes to close World Rugby Hall of Fame". Rugby Observer. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
11. "Rugby visitor centre". The Rugby Town. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
12. "Rugby Art Gallery - Exhibitions". Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 19 May 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Get it Loud in Libraries