A Barbara Hepworth sculpture will remain in the United Kingdom after a public appeal raised its £3.8 million ($5.1 million) target to save the piece, including donations from Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor.
Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943) was sold to a private collector at Christie’s London for £3.54 million ($4.44 million) in March 2024. Last December, the British government placed the work under a temporary export bar to prevent its sale outside the U.K., allowing time for regional institutions to raise money for the acquisition.
The sculpture will now be displayed at the Hepworth Wakefield art gallery in West Yorkshire, England, based in the artist’s hometown. It will be the first time the work has been available for continuous public viewing since its creation.
Born in 1903, Hepworth is best known for her carved wooden and stone sculptures, whose abstract forms and piercing voids helped define modernist sculpture. She rose to prominence in a field largely dominated by men, emerging as one of the most celebrated artists of her generation. Her work is featured in collections such as the Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.
“Barbara Hepworth often talked about her need to be part of a community and its proactive development,” said Olivia Colling, interim director and CEO of Hepworth Wakefield. “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.”
The campaign was made possible with £1.89 million ($2.55 million) from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, an exceptional £750,000 ($1.07 million) grant from the Art Fund. Further support came from foundations and trusts, including the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, The Garcia Family Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Headley Trust, The Julia Rausing Trust, the Hepworth family, and The Henry Moore Foundation.
Completed during the Second World War, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red is one of only a handful of wooden carvings Hepworth produced in the 1940s. It is one of the earliest examples of her stringed work, where her sculptures feature taut strings pulled across the voids. The egg-like form features multi-colored strings pulled across, an early example of the artist’s lifelong exploration of color and form.
The appeal attracted support from artists and cultural figures, including Kapoor, Gormley, Jonathan Anderson, Tate Modern director Maria Balshaw, Veronica Ryan, Rachel Whiteread, and comedian Jenny Eclair.
