Campaign to save rare Hepworth sculpture gets closer to £3.8m target

A crowdfunding campaign to purchase a rare Barbara Hepworth sculpture that has rarely been seen by the public has raised 84% of its target through major grants and public donations.

Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form Pale Blue and Red) carved in 1943 is one of the earliest examples of Hepworth’s stringed sculptures and marks a breakthrough moment in her career. Currently in private ownership and rarely seen by the public, the sculpture was placed under a temporary export bar last November.

The campaign to purchase the artwork and stop it travelling overseas, led by the Art Fund and the Hepworth Wakefield, must secure £3.8m by 27 August.

The Headley Trust is the latest to donate, offering a grant of £100,000. The campaign has also received £1.89m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £750,000 from the Art Fund, as well as public gifts ranging from £3 to six-figure sums.

The sculpture is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by Hepworth during the second world war not long after the while the artist and her family moved from London to St Ives in Cornwall. It is the only one of her works to include multi-coloured strings, which are pulled taut against a pale blue interior, reflecting Hepworth’s experiences of the Cornish landscape around her.

If purchased, the sculpture will go on permanent display at the Hepworth Wakefield and become the centre of a special exhibition to mark the gallery’s 15th birthday in 2026.

It will also be shown alongside its ‘stringing map’, which the gallery already owns, giving visitors insight into Hepworth’s creative process.

“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our supporters so far,” said Simon Wallis, the outgoing director of the Hepworth Wakefield. “Such a significant grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is transformative for our campaign, making this rare opportunity to acquire such an important Hepworth sculpture for Wakefield and the nation a giant leap closer to being a reality.”

Provenance

Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form Pale Blue and Red) was acquired directly from the artist by art collector Helen Sutherland in March 1944. In 1966, Sutherland sold the piece to Nicolete Gray where it passed by descent.

The sculpture first went up as an anonymous sale at Christie’s, London, on 1 July 1998, where it sold for £177,500.

On 6 June 2008, it returned to the auction house and sold to the previous owner for £892,450.

And on 20 March 2024 it was purchased through auction for £3.549m by the present owner.

Bristol Museum outbid on Turner painting

Meanwhile Bristol Museum & Art Gallery did not succeed in its bid to purchase a newly rediscovered painting by JMW Turner. The museum had raised more than £100,000 in a week in its attempt to acquire The Rising Squall, Hot Wells from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol (1792).

The painting was sold at Sotheby's to a private collector for £1.87m, nearly eight times its estimated price. All donations have since been refunded and the museum says it will explore whether the painting can be brought to the city on loan.

A rare display of Turner's watercolour collection is planned at the museum later this year to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the artist's birth.