Newcastle artworks chosen to adorn famous Downing Street corridor

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty. Credit: Crown

Nine artworks from the Laing Art Gallery collection in Newcastle have gone on display along a famous corridor at 10 Downing Street.

The display adorns the walls leading from the famous black door through to the Cabinet Room.

It showcases artists from the North East to a platform of world leaders, industry bosses, and high-profile guests attending events in the building. 

The artworks will remain in place for a year, as part of the Government Art Collection’s ‘Number 10 Museum in Residence’ project. 

Edward Dickey - The Building of the Tyne Bridge (left) and Kenneth Rowntree - West Front, Durham (right) Credit: Crown

For the past twenty years, the Government Art Collection has partnered with a museum or gallery across the UK. Previous galleries include the Glynn Vivian in Swansea, The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and The New Art Gallery in Walsall.

The nine chosen works from the Laing Art Gallery are representative of Newcastle and the wider region.

The collection includes a large oil painting of the iconic Tyne Bridge mid-construction by Edward Dickey, a Norman Cornish piece called 'Pit Road', and 'Caravans, Figures and Helter Skelter' a 1930s piece that shows a scene from the long-running travelling fair, which sets up on the Town Moor annually, by Byron Dawson.

There are also several mid-20th-century works by figures associated with the region’s art schools, such as graduates of King’s College - now Newcastle University.

Victor Pasmore - Girl with Mirror (left) and Arthur Grimshaw - The Quayside (right) Credit: Crown

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said: “I’m delighted that visitors over the next year will get to learn more about the proud culture and rich heritage of Tyneside thanks to this partnership with the Laing Art Gallery.

"The first thing they’ll see after walking through that famous front door is a huge portrait of the Tyne Bridge, which fills my Geordie heart with pride.”

Julie Milne, Chief Curator of Art Galleries at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, said: “We have enjoyed working with the Government Art Collection team in selecting paintings from the Laing Art Gallery.

"It has enabled us to see the works from a fresh perspective – to hone and highlight narratives about the North East. We are delighted that our wonderful pictures will be seen by a range of people, from the UK and around the world, as they pass through the doors of Number 10.”

The works from Laing Art Gallery on display:

  • Edward Dickey - The Building of the Tyne Bridge (1928)

  • Norman Cornish - Pit Road (c.1960)

  • Louis Grimshaw - St Nicholas Street (1902) 

  • Arthur Grimshaw - The Quayside (1895)

  • Byron Dawson - Caravans, Figures & Helter Skelter (1930)

  • Victor Pasmore - Girl with Mirror (c.1942–5)

  • Flora Glover - The Flood (c.1941)

  • Florence Ward - Quartz Inset (c. 1965)

  • Kenneth Rowntree - West Front, Durham (1974)

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