How do we make sense of a world in constant change?

Discover how some of Britain’s most influential artists, like Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and LS Lowry, used colour, shape and form to capture feelings, emotions and experiences during a century of change.

Through world wars, the rise of industry and huge social shifts, these artists turned to abstract art to make sense of the world around them.

Five decades of abstraction

Spanning the 1920s to the 1970s, trace the story of abstraction across five decades: from playful early experiments and Surrealist influences, to powerful responses to war, industry and social upheaval.

Explore how some of the most influential British artists of the 20th century interpreted and influenced abstract art in response to the environments and times in which they lived.

What to expect

See 75 powerful works, 20 of which have been selected especially for Firstsite, drawn from the Wakefield Art Gallery Collection.

Experience rarely seen pieces shown alongside iconic works by Britain’s most influential modern artists.

Among the highlights are works by Roger Fry, Emmy Bridgewater, Elisabeth Frink, Patrick Heron, Prunella Clough, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Duncan Gra and LS Lowry, as well as East Anglian artists including Blair Hughes-Stanton, Edward Bawden and Keith Vaughan, and many more leading figures in British Modern art.

Through watercolour and oil paintings, sculpture, print and woodcut, explore themes of class, sexuality, psychological anxiety and industry.

Get a fresh perspective on how abstraction offered comfort, meaning and new perspectives during turbulent times.

Discover new insights into Britain’s modern art story and how 20th-century cultural changes both shaped and were shaped by the artists of the time.

Why it matters today

Barbara Hepworth shared our mission to empower everyone to be creative, believing that ‘the language of colour and form is universal and not reserved for a special class.’

Today, as we face our own unsettled times, Into Abstraction reminds us why art matters – offering meaning, connection and, above all, hope.

Into Abstraction: Modern British Art and the Landscape is organised by The Hepworth Wakefield in collaboration with Firstsite.

Photo: Barbara Hepworth, Mincarlo, Three Curves with Strings, 1971. On long loan to Wakefield Council Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield) from a private collection. Barbara Hepworth.