A sculpture by Barbara Hepworth of tremendous aesthetic and historical importance has been saved for the nation following a successful public appeal. Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943) was the focus of a campaign led by The Hepworth Wakefield and Art Fund. It reached its £3.8 million target, ensuring this pivotal work will enter the national collection for permanent public display in the artist’s hometown.
The acquisition will be made possible by public support, with over 2,800 individual donations, alongside major grants. These included £1.89 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and an exceptional £750,000 grant from the Art Fund. Significant support also came from a constellation of foundations and trusts, including The Henry Moore Foundation and The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, underscoring the work’s profound significance to the British cultural landscape.
Created under extraordinary circumstances during the Second World War, the sculpture represents a vital breakthrough in Hepworth’s practice. Forced to relocate to St Ives with her young family, the artist contended with a lack of studio space and materials. It was not until 1943 that she secured a permit to source wood for carving. This work, one of a scant handful of wood carvings from that decade, emerged from that period of resilience. It is among her first major pieces to incorporate taut, coloured strings, pulled vibrantly against a pale blue interior, reflecting the Cornish light and landscape that surrounded her.
The sculpture’s rarity and aesthetic power prompted the UK government to place a temporary export bar on it, deeming it a national treasure too important to be lost overseas. The successful campaign, backed by artists including Sir Antony Gormley, Sir Anish Kapoor, and Rachel Whiteread, ensures it will now be accessible to all.
Olivia Colling, Interim Director of The Hepworth Wakefield, stated the artist “would have been delighted that so many people have come together to enable her work to be part of a public art collection.” Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman celebrated the “collective belief that art should be for everyone,” a sentiment echoed by artist and trustee Richard Deacon, who recalled the work’s profound impact on him as a young student.
The acquisition allows The Hepworth Wakefield to present a more complete narrative of Hepworth’s pioneering career. A dedicated display will celebrate the sculpture’s arrival, telling the story of its creation against the odds and its enduring place in the history of modern British art. It will stand as a testament to artistic innovation in the face of adversity, finally taking its rightful place in the public realm for generations to come.
Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) is one of the most important artists of the 20th century whose art has defined what we think of as modern sculpture today. A pioneer of abstract sculpture, she was at the forefront of the direct carving movement and is well known for her innovative stringed works, of which Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form), Pale Blue and Red is one of the earliest and best examples. Created under astonishing circumstances during the Second World War, this distinctive work marks a breakthrough in Hepworth’s career.
A scarce work, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by Hepworth during the 1940s, and one of the first major wood carvings she made using strings. In 1939, on the brink of the Second World War, Hepworth moved her young family – including her four-year-old triplets – from London to the relative safety of St Ives, Cornwall. She had little time for work, no studio space, and limited access to materials. It was not until 1943 that she moved into a house large enough to have a small studio and was granted a special permit to use wood for sculpting. At night, she picked up her chisel once again to make this extraordinary sculpture.
The only one of Hepworth’s works to include multi-coloured strings, which are pulled taut against a pale blue interior, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red reflects Hepworth’s experiences of the Cornish landscape around her. The work was vital to Hepworth; its plaster prototype (later destroyed) was the only work she brought with her when she moved to St Ives. Embodying Hepworth’s resilience as well as a turning point in her artistic development, it is of enormous significance to understanding not only the artist, but also the history of modern British art.
Sculpture in Britain would not be the same without Barbara Hepworth. The export bar – administered only in exceptional circumstances – reflected the importance of Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, citing the work’s aesthetic importance, significance to the study of Hepworth and connection with the UK’s history and national life.