Alistair Hardaker
Image: Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943 (Betty Saunders)
Public appeal prevents export of 1943 Hepworth sculpture with major grants from National Lottery Heritage Fund and 2,800 public donations
The Hepworth Wakefield has reached its £3.8m fundraising target to acquire Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red for the UK’s national collection.
The campaign received over 2,800 public donations alongside major institutional support, including £1.89m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and an exceptional grant of £750,000 from Art Fund. Additional funding came from the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, The Forster Foundation, The Garcia Family Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Headley Trust, the Hepworth family, The Henry Moore Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust and other donors.
The 1943 sculpture, created during the Second World War, represents one of only a small number of wooden carvings Hepworth produced during the 1940s and among the first major wood carvings incorporating strings. The work had been in private ownership and was placed under a temporary export bar by the UK Government.
Once acquired, the sculpture will go on permanent public display at The Hepworth Wakefield for the first time since its creation. The gallery plans a dedicated display examining the work’s history.
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,” said Olivia Colling, Interim Director & CEO, The Hepworth Wakefield.
Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund, said: “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. “
Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, added: “We are thrilled to have played a role in this phenomenal campaign by supporting The Hepworth Wakefield’s successful fundraising towards the acquisition of Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red with a grant of £1.89m, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players.
