Latest news with #HepworthWakefield
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hepworth piece to remain in UK after £3.8m raised
An art gallery has successfully secured sufficient funds to buy a Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture, after reaching the target of £3.8m. Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red will go on permanent public display at the Hepworth Wakefield after pre-empting its 27 August deadline to raise the funds. The gallery received more than 2,800 donations from the public, as well as £1.89m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a £750,000 grant from Art Fund. The 1943 work, which had been in private ownership, was placed under a temporary export bar to give a British museum the chance to acquire it after it was deemed too important to leave the UK. Olivia Colling, interim director and CEO at the Hepworth Wakefield, said Dame Barbara would be "delighted" so many people ensured the piece can be displayed in her home city. "Barbara Hepworth often talked about her need to be part of a community and its proactive development," she said. "We are enormously grateful for the generosity people have shown in helping us to bring this extremely rare and important work to Wakefield." The sculpture was carved during World War Two, when Dame Barbara lived in St Ives, Cornwall, with her young family. It is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by the Wakefield-born artist during the 1940s, and one of the first wood carvings she made featuring strings. In private ownership since its creation and rarely seen in public, the sculpture was auctioned by Christie's in 2024 for £3.5m. The gallery has said it intends to lend the piece to other museums and galleries across the UK, "opening up access for people everywhere". The appeal was backed by artists and creatives including Sir Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Jonathan Anderson, Richard Deacon, Katy Hessel, Veronica Ryan, Joanna Scanlan and Dame Rachel Whiteread. Jenny Waldman, director of Art Fund, said the piece was "endlessly fascinating to look at from all angles". "Its a really special and significant work of art," she said. "This is a wooden object, it's painted white with a beautiful pale blue, perhaps reminiscent of Cornwall and the beautiful blues there, and it has coloured strings in the middle." Ms Hessel, an art historian who supported the appeal, said Hepworth's sculptures "really sum up the British landscape". "This was during the war, there were scarce material available to her and she had to make do with what she had," she said. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. More stories like this Gallery raising £3.8m for Hepworth 'masterpiece' Related internet links The Hepworth Wakefield
The Independent
9 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
Rare Barbara Hepworth work to be displayed in public for first time
A rare 1943 sculpture by Yorkshire -born artist Barbara Hepworth, titled Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, has been acquired for permanent public display. A total of £3.8 million was raised to secure the artwork, following a temporary export bar that prevented it from leaving the UK last year. The fundraising appeal was led by The Hepworth Wakefield and national charity Art Fund, with major contributions from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund, and over 2,800 public donations. Having been in private ownership for decades, the wooden carving will now be publicly exhibited for the first time at The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire, the artist's birthplace. The piece is one of only a few wooden carvings Hepworth created in the 1940s and the first to use strings, reflecting her adaptability during wartime in Cornwall.
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Wakefield gallery reaches £3.8m target to secure Hepworth piece
An art gallery has successfully secured sufficient funds to buy a Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture, after reaching the target of £ With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red will go on permanent public display at the Hepworth Wakefield after pre-empting its 27 August deadline to raise the gallery received more than 2,800 donations from the public, as well as £1.89m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a £750,000 grant from Art Fund, alongside support from various other trusts and Colling, interim director and CEO at the Hepworth Wakefield, said Dame Barbara would be "delighted" so many people ensured the piece can be displayed in her hometown. "Barbara Hepworth often talked about her need to be part of a community and its proactive development," she said, adding: "We are enormously grateful for the generosity people have shown in helping us to bring this extremely rare and important work to Wakefield."The sculpture was carved during World War II, when Dame Barbara lived in St Ives, Cornwall, with her young is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by the Wakefield-born artist during the 1940s, and one of the first wood carvings she made featuring gallery has said it intends to lend the piece to other museums and galleries across the UK, "opening up access for people everywhere". If the fundraising target had not been met, the sculpture would have been sold to a private buyer and left the appeal was backed by artists and creatives including Sir Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Jonathan Anderson, Richard Deacon, Katy Hessel, Veronica Ryan, Joanna Scanlan and Dame Rachel to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Independent
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘Extremely rare' Barbara Hepworth sculpture to be saved after £3.8m is raised
An 'extremely rare' sculpture by late artist Barbara Hepworth is to be saved after an art gallery raised £3.8 million. The 1943 work entitled Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red had been in private ownership and was placed under a temporary export bar by the UK Government, to give a British museum the chance to acquire it, after it was deemed too important to leave the UK. The sculpture will go on permanent display at The Hepworth Wakefield, in the artist's West Yorkshire hometown, after the art gallery led a fundraising drive which saw donations from more than 2,800 members of the public. Olivia Colling, interim director and chief executive at The Hepworth Wakefield, said: 'Barbara Hepworth often talked about her need to be part of a community and its proactive development. 'We think she would have been delighted that so many people have come together to enable her work to be part of a public art collection which can be experienced and enjoyed by so many. 'We are enormously grateful for the generosity people have shown in helping us to bring this extremely rare and important work to Wakefield, the UK's capital of sculpture.' Fundraising also saw the gallery given a National Lottery Heritage Fund donation worth £1.89 million, as well as an Art Fund grant worth £750,000. Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said: 'Art Fund is proud to have led this urgent campaign with The Hepworth Wakefield, rallying public and philanthropic support to keep the sculpture in the UK in a public museum. 'It follows a long history of successful Art Fund appeals – from The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I to Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage and Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of Mai – each made possible by the collective belief that art should be for everyone. 'We're deeply grateful to the many individuals and funders whose generosity made this possible – including our national art pass members, whose support enabled us to commit an exceptional grant of £750,000.' Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red is one of a small number of wooden carvings made by Hepworth during the 1940s and one of the first major wood carvings she made using strings. Hepworth is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century and is often credited with defining modern sculpture work. She was born in January 1903 and died in an accidental fire at her studio in 1975.
Telegraph
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Battle to stop removal of wartime sculpture from Britain
A fundraising campaign has been launched to try and stop a wartime sculpture from being taken overseas by its new owner. After buying Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red by Dame Barbara Hepworth for more than £3.5 million in March last year, the purchaser wanted to take it out of Britain. Art Fund, a charity that raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation, is spearheading a campaign to keep it from being taken from British shores. In November, the Government placed an export bar on the sculpture, which was created in Cornwall during the height of the Second World War. This gave institutions until Aug 27 to match the bid of the owner. Art Fund, which provides financial support for museums and the Hepworth Wakefield, has provided £750,000 of the amount needed, leaving £2.9 million still required. Eleanor Clayton, the senior curator at the Hepworth Wakefield and an expert on the sculptor, said the work needed to remain in the UK for the benefit of future generations. She said: 'The piece is one of the earliest and best examples of the wooden, string-carved sculptures that she became really well known for. 'There's only a handful of painted wooden strung works that she made during the whole of the 40s. And you can see this all in this work that she made whilst juggling childcare and domestic chores.' The sculpture was completed in 1943 after Hepworth moved to St Ives, Cornwall, with her family. She remained there until her death in 1975, aged 72. The artwork has always been in private ownership after being acquired directly from Hepworth by Helen Sutherland in 1944. It was shown as part of a Hepworth exhibition at Tate Britain in 2015. Campaigners now hope that the piece can be purchased and permanently kept on public display. Artists and creatives including Jonathan Anderson, Richard Deacon, Katy Hessel, Sir Anish Kapoor, Veronica Ryan, Joanna Scanlan and Dame Rachel Whiteread have backed the appeal. Jenny Waldman, the director of Art Fund, said: 'These campaigns are very rare. Help us to save an absolutely key work of art for the nation. 'It will be enjoyed, researched and be the source of inspiration for generations to come. Please join us in helping to save this remarkable work for everyone to enjoy.'
