Benefactors Tim Sayer And Annemarie Norton Celebrate Hepworth Wakefield Prize Win

Tim sayer And Annmarie Norton at the Hepworth Wakefield

Tim Sayer and Annemarie Norton whose personal collection, built up over the last five decades, was generously donated to the Hepworth Wakefield last year were on stage to see The Hepworth Wakefield win this year’s Art Fund Museum of The Year £100,000 prize.

The collection was the most significant gift to Wakefield by a private collector and included works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Prunella Clough, Sonia Delaunay, Naum Gabo, David Hockney, Paul Nash, Gerhard Richter and Bridget Riley. The collection which shed light on domestic scale and context currently fills almost every crevice of the couple’s North London home.

Tim Sayer, who was recently made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, has been a colourful fixture on the London art scene for over 50 years while spending much of his working life at the BBC, writing the radio news. Over this golden era, Mr. Sayer built up strong relationships with many of the capital’s leading galleries and art dealers, purchasing from the perspective and vision of a domestic collector with a discerning eye. His home, shared with wife Annemarie Norton – a former ballet dancer, is a reflection of the individual as collector and can only be compared to the very personal collection of Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, the American civil servants who were equally inspired to compile such an intimate group of works.

Simon Wallis, Director of The Hepworth Wakefield, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this wonderful accolade. It’s a great honour that our work throughout our fifth anniversary year has been rewarded by becoming Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017. Thank you to all the judges and the Art Fund, which has long supported our ambitious collecting policy in Wakefield. Something very special is happening in our part of Yorkshire as we’ve now got two Museums of the Year with our near neighbour Yorkshire Sculpture Park who won it in 2014.”

The gallery is currently showing Howard Hodgkin Painting India.

Read Sue Hubbard’s Review Here

Lead photo by Amy Stevenson

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