Hepworth Appeal
Funds raised to save Hepworth’s sculpture
The Hepworth Wakefield and Art Fund have raised the £3.8 million needed to save Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red for the UK, a week ahead of our deadline.
The only work of its kind
With multi-coloured strings pulled taut against a pale blue interior, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red is one of the earliest and best examples of Barbara Hepworth’s stringed sculptures.
It is one of only a handful of wooden carvings she made during the 1940s – a critical period when, having left London for St Ives before the outbreak of war, working with limited materials, at night, and raising a young family, she found new ways to express the landscape around her.
And it is unique: a larger, painted wood version of the only piece of work she took with her in the move to Cornwall, which was later broken and lost.
Alongside 2,800 public donations the success of the appeal has been made possible with several major grants - including £1.89m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, an exceptional grant of £750,000 from Art Fund, and further impactful support from the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, The Forster Foundation, The Garcia Family Foundation, The Headley Trust, the Hepworth family, The Henry Moore Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust and other generous individuals, significant family foundations and trusts.
It’s a testament to the undaunted spirit of a great artist... It should be held in a public collection in the UK for the benefit of all
Tell Hepworth’s story in her hometown
Barbara Hepworth was born and brought up in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Named after her, The Hepworth Wakefield celebrates Yorkshire as the birthplace of modern British sculpture.
The gallery is home to Wakefield’s art collection, at the heart of which are major works by Barbara Hepworth as well as the Hepworth Family Gift, a group of prototypes she made for her sculptures. You can see the marks of her tools on them and see how she worked, up close.
But the gallery doesn’t own any finished sculptures by Hepworth from the 1940s. This sculpture is the missing piece: it shows a turning point in her development as an artist, achieved in challenging circumstances.
With it, The Hepworth Wakefield will be able to tell the full story of her working life – cementing their reputation as one of the most important centres for the study and enjoyment of Barbara Hepworth in the world.
An unmissable opportunity for Wakefield
Now that the funds have been raised, the chance to acquire this sculpture will allow The Hepworth Wakefield to tell the full story of Barbara Hepworth’s career and pioneering creativity, in the city where she was born.
Their ambition is for local communities, schools, students and culture enthusiasts from across the UK and beyond to be able to enjoy the sculpture in their beautiful galleries, for generations to come.
Stay tuned across our channels for details on when the sculpture goes on display.