Hepworth piece to remain in UK after £3.8m raised
An art gallery has successfully raised the £3.8 million required to purchase a Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture, which will go on permanent display at the Hepworth Wakefield. The gallery, which pre-empted its fundraising deadline of August 27, will display the sculpture titled 'Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red'.
More than 2,800 people contributed to the fundraising efforts, which also included a grant of £1.89 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Art Fund's £750,000. The 1943 work, which had been in private hands, was placed under a temporary export ban to allow a British museum the opportunity to acquire it after it was deemed too important to leave the country.
A Return to Hepworth's Hometown
Olivia Colling, the interim director and CEO of the Hepworth Wakefield, stated that Dame Barbara would be "delighted" to have her work displayed in her home city.
"Barbara Hepworth often spoke about the fact that she must be a part of a community and its proactive growth," she said. "We are extremely grateful for all the people who have contributed to bring this extremely rare and important work to Wakefield."
The sculpture was carved in St Ives, Cornwall, during World War II, a period when Dame Barbara and her young family were living there. It is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by the Wakefield-born artist in the 1940s, and one of the first wood carvings she created using strings.
The sculpture, which has been in private hands since its creation and rarely seen in public, was auctioned at Christie's in 2024 for £3.5 million. The gallery has announced that it will lend the work to other museums and galleries around the country, "opening up access for people everywhere."
A Unique Work of Art
Artists and designers including Sir Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Jonathan Anderson, Richard Deacon, Joanna Scanlan, and Dame Rachel Whiteread have all expressed their support. Jenny Waldman, the director of the Art Fund, described the piece as "endlessly fascinating to look at from all angles," and "a really unique and important work of art."
Art historian Katy Hessel, who supported the appeal, provided further detail on the piece. "This is a wooden object, it's painted white with a brilliant pale blue, perhaps reminiscent of Cornwall and the stunning blues there, and it has coloured strings in the middle," she said. "Hepworth's sculptures actually sum up the British landscape."
Hessel also highlighted the context of its creation. "This was during the war; there were no supplies available to her, and she had to make do with what she had."
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