Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

Wonderful Watercolours: views of Coventry and Warwickshire

25 February — 7 May 2012

Featuring well known artists including Paul Sandby, David Cox and Thomas Girtin, and local favourites HE Cox and Sydney Bunney, the paintings range in date from the 1770s to the 1990s.

Alongside familiar scenes, such as Kenilworth Castle and Warwick Castle, there are views of picturesque villages and a reminder of the glories of old Coventry in views of the city's medieval gates, buildings and streets.

Also included in the exhibition will be an album of views of Coventry painted in 1819 by William Brooke. Many of these superb works show streets and buildings which have now vanished. The album has just been purchased by the Herbert following a successful fundraising appeal.

The displays will also feature items from the Herbert's archaeology, history and archive collections, which are linked to some of the locations shown in the paintings.

Suitable for

• Any age

Where

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum Coventry

Admission

FREE

Website

http://www.theherbert.org

George Shaw: I woz ere

Until 11 March 2012 *on now

For the past 15 years, recent Turner Prize nominee George Shaw has been making paintings of the Tile Hill housing estate in Coventry where he grew up. Using Humbrol enamels, Shaw began making the works in a fit of nostalgia after he had left home and moved away. Over time, the paintings became a kind of ‘I woz ere’ written in retrospect.

For the first time, this collection of paintings is shown in the place they represent. Many viewers will recognise the specific pubs, street corners, rows of garages, trees and shops, but less familiar is the unsettling resonance that Shaw brings to the work.

Displayed alongside these landscapes is a new series of watercolours of previously painted places as they exist here and now. Accompanying the exhibition, Shaw also presents the works of art he made as a child in the early 1970s to the summer before he went to art school in 1985.

Suitable for

• Any age
• 18+

Where

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum Coventry

Admission

FREE

Website

http://www.therherbert.org

The Herbert at Night

19 May 2012

A FREE event welcoming everyone to enjoy the magic of the museum and galleries after hours. Arts activities linked to exhibitions, film screenings with Roots to Shoots, Souful choir performances, living history with the Lunt Roman Fort, live music, and more. Full list of activities to be found at www.theherbert.org

Suitable for

• Family friendly

When

6-10pm