JUST two per cent of the almost 5,000 pieces in the fine art collection at Newport Museum and Art Gallery is on display, an Argus Freedom of Information Act request reveals.

The museum and art gallery building, which is at risk of closure in Newport City Council’s 2015/16 budget proposals, has 98 works of fine art on display compared to around 4,800 pieces in storage.

Newport City Council has proposed to close the building in John Frost square, which also houses the city’s Central Library, in a bid to save funds as part of the next financial year’s budget.

The council insists a museum service will remain if the building was to close, but provision would be in the form of pop-up exhibitions or an alternative location.

The proposals also look at moving the city’s art gallery to The Riverfront theatre.

Friends of Newport Museum and Art Gallery (FoNMAG) chairman Richard Frame said as long as there are facilities to store the works, the group are not concerned about how an alternative building would display the pieces.

He said: “They’ve got a fantastic collection, it can be brought out and exhibited as and when needed.

“They do bring stuff out, you couldn’t have it all out all the time. It’s got to be in certain conditions to be preserved.”

The fine art collection includes prints, watercolours, drawings, paintings and sculpture.

The Freedom of Information request also revealed a further 1,090 decorative works of art, including decorated ceramics, commemorative ware and contemporary ceramics also on display at the museum and art gallery, with 1,350 pieces in storage.

One of the works which has recently been brought out of storage is Sir Gerald Kelly’s ‘D.DVa’, known as the Newport Nude.

The painting, purchased by the council in 1947 for £250, caused a scandal when it was first put on display in the city.

Mr Frame added: “It caused such an outcry, it was on the front page of a national newspaper. It was regarded as disgusting and attracted 20,000 visitors at the time. It would be good to get 20,000 people in this time round.”

Meanwhile, the campaign to save the museum and art gallery from closure is gathering steam with 2,000 people signing a petition opposing the proposal.

With one week to go until the council’s first budget consultation comes to a close, FoNMAG are continuing to appeal for people fill in forms and visit the museum.

The group will be taking their petition to the Civic Centre on January 16.

Also backing the campaign is trade union Unison, which represents many of the museum employees.

Peter Short, regional organiser for Unison, said: “In the museum and art gallery there are 15 full time equivalent jobs. The council are only going to want two.

“We’ve got a very serious concern about jobs but also, it’s an important facility in Newport.

“It just seems dreadful that something like that could be removed and become some kind of mobile pop-up exhibition.

“We’re hoping to make common calls with organisations like the Friends and cultural community to see if we can link in to the campaign. We’re meeting our members next week.”

Newport-born Hollywood actor Michael Sheen joined Unison in its campaign on twitter, saying “As Patron of the Friends of Newport Museum & Art Gallery it has my full support of course.”