Julia Bryson
BBC News, Yorkshire
Betty Saunders
A West Yorkshire art gallery is attempting to raise sufficient funds to purchase a Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture “for the nation”.
The Hepworth Wakefield wants to buy Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red, created in the 1940s, in order for it to go on permanent public display.
The oval-shaped piece, which sold for more than £3.5m in 2024, was later given a temporary export bar preventing it from leaving the country – providing a UK gallery the chance to acquire it.
The Art Fund charity has offered £750,000 towards the cost, however a further £2.9m is required before a 27 August deadline.
If the target was not met, the sculpture by the Wakefield-born artist would go to a private buyer and be taken overseas.
The appeal is 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.
The piece is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by the artist during the 1940s, when she lived in St Ives, Cornwall, with her young family.
Bowness
If bought, the Hepworth said it would be a “star piece” in its collection.
The gallery also planned to lend it to other museums and galleries across the UK, “opening up access for people everywhere”.
Simon Wallis, gallery director, said: “We established The Hepworth Wakefield 14 years ago to celebrate, explore and build on Barbara Hepworth’s legacy.
“This sculpture is the missing piece, a masterpiece which deserves to be on display in the town where Hepworth was born.”
Betty Saunders
Sir Antony said: “Barbara Hepworth’s work remains a luminary example of both an engagement with modernism and a return to direct carving.
“The opportunity for the museum named after her to acquire this important work is precious and should be supported.”
The gallery is home to Wakefield’s art collection, including significant works by Dame Barbara but excluding her finished works from the 1940s.
Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director, said: “This rare and significant sculpture should be on public display in the UK now and for generations to come.
“Every museum should have the power to secure landmark works of art but in today’s challenging funding climate they simply cannot compete with the prices demanded on the open market.”
She added: “We applaud The Hepworth Wakefield for the huge ambition of their bid to bring this Hepworth home.”
