The Herbert Art Gallery is a museum, art gallery and learning centre for creative arts. It is located within Coventry, England. The museum was intially named after Sir Alfred Herbert who was an renown industrialist and philanthropist from Coventry. His gifts enabled the museum to be opened within 1960. The museum building began in 1939, but the Second World War erupted causing a halt in construction. The Herbert eventually opened in 1960. Within 2008, the museum reopened after a large £20 million refurbishment.
After the city’s destruction during the Coventry Blitz, caused the construction to be suspended on the museum and the basemont was only completed. Donald Gibson, who was a city architect, acquired a radical building place for Coventry’s city centre and this became a War Time propaganda for the post war reconstruction of Britain. Further plans were drawn together in 1952, when the foundation stone was laid by Alfred Herbert, who donated a further £100,000 towards the project. After Herbert’s death in May 1957, the museum and gallery which bore his named was opened on the 9th of March, 1960 by his wife Lady Herbert.
Theory & Practice: Graphic Design Heroes 