Only three percent of council’s 7,000 artworks on display to public
Portsmouth City Council owns thousands of works of art
Only three percent of Portsmouth City Council’s extensive art collection is on display for taxpayers to view, a new Freedom of Information request has revealed.
The council owns 7,051 works of art, according to information released to the BBC. However, only about 210 of these pieces are available for the people of Portsmouth to view.
Most of the artworks are held by Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, a free council-owned museum in the city.
A Portsmouth City Council spokesperson said: “Portsmouth Museums holds collections in trust for the public. Many objects have been donated or bequeathed with the expectation or legal requirement to be preserved.
“Professional bodies that regulate UK museums require collections to be managed for the long-term public benefit rather than sold for financial gain. Any sale of items is strictly governed by professional and ethical frameworks.
“We regularly rotate collections for temporary exhibitions, displays and loans. Changing displays allows us to highlight different aspects of Portsmouth's collections, showcase new acquisitions, celebrate anniversaries and put on projects and educational programmes, and is also important for conservation reasons, particularly for light-sensitive and delicate items.
“Caring for museum collections requires secure, environmentally appropriate storage and professional collections management, which we continually review.
“Costs include buildings, security, environmental monitoring, conservation, documentation, insurance and staff expertise. These costs are necessary in safeguarding Portsmouth's heritage and cultural assets for generations to come.”
The council said it could not give an estimate on the total value of its collection as many of the works are “difficult or impossible to value.”
Cllr Steve Pitt, leader of the Portsmouth City Council and Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “Portsmouth's collections are an important part of our city's heritage, professionally cared for by our museums on behalf of the public for current and future generations to enjoy.
"As a local authority that holds a large collection, it is inevitable that at any one time only a small percentage is on display. Like most museums, limited gallery space means only a proportion can be on public display at any one time, however the wider collection remains an important, long-term public asset to preserve.
“Art and historical objects are carefully curated and rotated across our six museums, as well as loaned to national and other museums, used for education programmes, community projects and research to help showcase Portsmouth's history, people and culture to a wide audience.”
"Over the last few years four new galleries have opened at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery which has allowed us to exhibit a far greater number of artworks over the last year, many of which can be seen in our current Portsmouth100 exhibition: 'Your museum. Your stories. Your city'. We are also looking to improve virtual access to collections by creating an online database."