Just five per cent of artwork owned by Wolverhampton council on display

The council owns approximately 20,000 pieces of art worth around

£10 million but 95 per cent remains locked away at any one time.

The number of items in storage at one time has increased dramatically since 2015 when 16,150 of the council's then 17,000 pieces of art were not on display.

Despite this the council has not sold any work from its collection since 2010.

In response to the new information, released following a Freedom of Information request, a city councillor has called for all the items to be displayed regularly.

But bosses at the authority said it is common practice for art galleries to rotate their collections and items can be viewed by prior arrangement.

A spokesman said: "Although we can only publicly display a fraction of our collection at any one time, our reserve collections are always available to view in our store by appointment.

"Thousands of school children, researchers and special interest groups who visit every year have enjoyed access to our stored collections. In recent years we have also improved accessibility to the collections through a searchable archive online.

"This includes images, subject to copyright, of hundreds of thousands of items in collections from galleries and museums in Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall.Items from Wolverhampton Art Gallery are also at times loaned to other galleries nationwide and internationally for specific exhibitions and on a similar basis the art gallery can receive loans from other galleries." The items in the authority's art collection are spread across the city centre Art Gallery, Bantock House Museum and Bilston Craft Gallery.

Around five per cent is on display at any one time while around 10 percent is available to view over the course of a year.

The authority's entire collection is estimated to be worth £10 million.

Councillor Wendy Thompson, leader of the council's Conservative opposition, said all the city's art work should be displayed regularly. She added: "The Art Gallery itself is a wonderful Victorian building and during the Victorian and Edwardian times there is no doubt that Wolverhampton benefitted from those more affluent members of the population who gave money and art work and so there is quite a heritage sitting there in the basement.

"It is really important that all work the city's art work is displayed on a regular basis. We should be showing that heritage.

"If it is just going to sit there then there is no point in having it. There are some Pre-Raphaelite works within the collection and I have not seen that for quite a long time in the Art Gallery. Something like that would be really beneficial to Wolverhampton to see on a regular basis."

Art work currently on display includes a portrait of Sir Edward Turner by Thomas Gainsborough, an oil painting of Queen Victoria in Windsor Home Park and the abstract Purist Painting with Bottles by Roy Lichtenstein. Items currently not on display include a portrait of Elizabeth Lee by Joseph Highmore, oil painting The Dismayed Artist by FD Hardy and a print of Border Incident by Willie Doherty. The Art Gallery, Bantock House Museum and Bilston Craft Gallery were the subject of a recent consultation on revised hours for four cultural venues in the city, which also sought opinions on Wolverhampton City Archives. On the Art Gallery, 64 per cent of people said they liked the hours, 10.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 4pm, on Sundays, which were introduced in July last year. It had been proposed Bantock House would close on weekdays but following the consultation council bosses revealed a U-turn following public opposition.