‘Extremely rare’ Barbara Hepworth sculpture to be saved after £3.8m is raised

An “extremely rare” sculpture by late artist Barbara Hepworth is to be saved after an art gallery raised £3.8 million.

The 1943 work entitled Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red had been in private ownership and was placed under a temporary export bar by the UK Government, to give a British museum the chance to acquire it, after it was deemed too important to leave the UK.

The sculpture will go on permanent display at The Hepworth Wakefield, in the artist’s West Yorkshire hometown, after the art gallery led a fundraising drive which saw donations from more than 2,800 members of the public.

Olivia Colling, interim director and chief executive at The Hepworth Wakefield, said: “Barbara Hepworth often talked about her need to be part of a community and its proactive development.”

Some £3.8 million was raised to save the sculpture. / Credit: PA

“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.”

“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.”

Fundraising also saw the gallery given a National Lottery Heritage Fund donation worth £1.89 million, as well as an Art Fund grant worth £750,000.

Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said: “Art Fund is proud to have led this urgent campaign with The Hepworth Wakefield, rallying public and philanthropic support to keep the sculpture in the UK in a public museum.

“It follows a long history of successful Art Fund appeals – from The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I to Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage and Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai – each made possible by the collective belief that art should be for everyone.”

“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.”

Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red is one of a small number of wooden carvings made by Hepworth during the 1940s and one of the first major wood carvings she made using strings.

Hepworth is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century and is often credited with defining modern sculpture work.

She was born in January 1903 and died in an accidental fire at her studio in 1975.