THE latest exhibition to be held at a Worcester museum is proving so popular, visitors are queueing down the street to see it.

Laura Knight in the Open Air has attracted more than 10,000 visitors from across the Midlands and as far afield as Cambridge since it opened at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum in Foregate Street in November.

Dame Laura Knight (1877- 1970) was a great celebrity in her time and from 1933, she and her husband, Harold, were frequent visitors to the Mount Pleasant Hotel in Malvern, where they fell in love with the dramatic landscape of the Malvern Hills.

This exhibition includes outdoor paintings executed throughout her long and distinguished career, including Cornish scenery, the spectacular panoramas below the Malvern Hills and the devastated townscape that forms the backdrop of her famous depiction of the Nuremberg war trials.

Helen Large, marketing manager for Museums Worcestershire, said the popular exhibition had lifted visitor numbers, which dwindled after the adjoining library moved to the Hive last year.

But Mrs Large said the volume of visitors was still unusual, especially for this type of exhibition.

She said: “Often in the summer we have very high demand from families but for a single artist, it’s been incredible. It’s helped because the artist herself has links with Malvern.

“We’re also holding talks and tours about the exhibition, which has attracted groups from all over the Midlands. It’s been lovely, we’ve been really busy.

“It’s given us a good boost. We’re really, really pleased.There’s been some lovely comments in the visitors’ book.

“Some people only want to see the exhibition but other people have taken the time and spent quite a lot of time here, going around the museum displays. We certainly hope it will have a long-lasting effect.”

Because of the success of the exhibition, the museum will open on Sunday to give people a last chance to see it.

Entry to Laura Knight in the Open Air is free and the art gallery is open Monday to Saturday, between 10.30am and 4.30pm, and on Sunday, February 10, only between 10.30am and 2.30pm.

On Saturday, February 16, there will be a free drop-in event, Love Worcester, running at the art gallery and museum from 11am to 3pm.

Families can take inspiration from the most popular paintings in the collection to help create a large landscape of Worcester using collage.