Three exhibitions on post-war Coventry through the lens of Richard Sadler, funded by the City of Culture Trust: Pioneering People: Sadler and the City Pioneering Industry: Sadler and Courtaulds Pioneering Art: Sadler and the Cathedral
Richard Sadler photographed the city of his birth as a young man in the immediate post war era. As he developed his practice, his photography took him across the bomb damaged city to the s
Sadler documented the city and people that recovered from the horrors of war and became a city of peace and reconciliation and of industry and migration.
Through the first exhibition we see the social spaces in which people came together; the Godiva Cafe, Upper Precinct and fairs on Hearsall Common, the Umbrella Club, Foleshill Jazz Club amongst others.
The second exhibition looks at Industry through Sadler's documentation of the Courtaulds works between 1951 - 54.
Under the leadership of Vera Furness, a pioneering chemist who was the first woman in the UK to hold such a position, we see the women and men of Coventry developing and designing man-made fibres and eventually carbon fibre used across industries.
The third exhibition reflects on the art of the new Coventry Cathedral and is timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral.
Sadler's role as the first official photographer of the new Coventry Cathedral meant he documented the new building as it