Rugby Art Gallery and Museum

The Rugby Art Gallery and Museum stands in the centre of Rugby, Warwickshire, sharing its modern building with the town library. The purpose-built structure opened in 2000 on the site of Rugby’s former library. Inside, visitors find two linked spaces: one for art, the other for history. The art gallery holds the Rugby Collection, begun in 1946, which now numbers over 170 works by British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum displays Roman finds from the nearby town of Tripontium and tells the story of Rugby’s social and industrial past. It also preserves the Redding Collection, some 25,000 negatives taken in the mid-20th century by George Redding’s studio. A former Rugby World Cup display once drew visitors, and the building once housed the World Rugby Hall of Fame until 2021. Live music has been part of the programme through the Get it Loud in Libraries series, hosting artists such as Plan B and British Sea Power. Recent exhibitions have featured David Remfry RA’s drawings of people and dogs, Louise Bourgeois prints from ARTIST ROOMS, and costumes from the ITV drama The Ipcress File. The gallery also mounts open calls like The Rugby Open Exhibition and shows drawn from its own holdings. Temporary displays such as Rugby’s Coronations and Body en Thrall have explored local and wider themes. The visitor centre for the town is located within the same building.