As diverse as their region, over 2,000 paintings from 34 public collections are recorded in this volume. These collections vary from distinguished Old Masters at Compton Verney and the Herbert
Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, to local history in Bedworth and Solihull. Naive paintings by often anonymous artists record the life and times of towns, villages and countryside, Hepicting
coalmines, pastures and woods. More renowned artists record the history of the motor car, the industry at the centre of the region for 100 years. The collections of the Royal Shakespeare
Company and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford are inique in their dedication to Shakespearean theatre, while two university collections bring the art of the region up to the
minute.
The Public Catalogue Foundation, a registered charity, has been set up to record the nation's entire collection of oil paintings in public ownership and to make this accessible through a series
of affordable catalogues. The catalogues are produced on a county-by-county basis. On completion, the series will allow us to see a colour illustration and brief description of every oil
painting in our national collection. Collections retain the revenue from the catalogues they sell, and use it for the preservation of oil paintings in their care, and for gallery
education.
Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in Warwickshire was made possible by the generosity of a large number of donors, who are listed inside.
