...

Logo Pasino du Havre - Casino-Hôtel - Spa
in partnership with
Logo Nextory

It’s staying home: UK raises £3.8 million to keep rare Barbara Hepworth sculpture

Culture • Aug 20, 2025, 9:23 AM
9 min de lecture
1

The UK has raised £3.8 million (approx. €4.4 million) to save a rare sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth for the nation,The Hepworth Wakefield art museum said on Tuesday.

Hepworth’s 1943 ‘Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red’ will enter the UK’s national collection and go on permanent public display at The Hepworth Wakefield, in her West Yorkshire hometown.

Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943
Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943 Betty Saunders

Born in 1903, Barbara Hepworth was one of the leading and pioneering figures of British Modernism throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Her ‘Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red’ “marks a breakthrough in Hepworth’s career,” The Hepworth Wakefield said in a statement.

She created the piece at the height of World War II after she settled with her family in St. Ives, Cornwall. She remained there until her death in 1975.

“It 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.”

She went on to produce a series of notable stringed and colourful sculptures.

Barba Hepworth works in the studio of her St. Ives home, 11 September 1963
Barba Hepworth works in the studio of her St. Ives home, 11 September 1963 AP Photo

English art collector Helen Sutherland first bought the piece directly from the artist in 1944. It remained privately owned and mostly shielded from public view ever since.

The artwork was most recently sold to a private collector at a Christie’s auction in March 2024 in London. But in November, the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport placed a temporary export bar on the sculpture, citing its “outstanding connection with our history and national life, its outstanding aesthetic importance and its outstanding significance” to the study of Hepworth’s work.

“Dame Barbara Hepworth was a phenomenal artistic genius,” Arts Minister Chris Bryant said in a statement at the time. “I hope a UK buyer can be found for this sculpture so the British public can continue to learn and engage with one our most important artists for generations to come.”

The Hepworth Wakefield and UK charity Art Fund launched a campaign in June to raise the £3.8 million necessary to buy the piece.

The campaign reached its target on Tuesday, ahead of its 27 August deadline.

The appeal resulted in 2,800 donations from individual members of the public, as well as several major grants, including £1.89 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £750,000 from Art Fund.

“We think [Hepworth] 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”, said The Hepworth Wakefield interim director and CEO Olivia Colling.

The gallery will celebrate the sculpture’s acquisition with a dedicated exhibition, with details to be announced.


Today

Guinness World Records turns 70 and reveals unclaimed record titles
Culture • 10:37 AM
3 min
As Guinness World Records celebrates its 70th anniversary, keep in mind that there are quite a few record titles to be claimed...<div class="small-12 column text-center article__button"><a href="https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/08/27/guinness-world-r
Read the article
'KPop Demon Hunters' breaks viewership records to become Netflix's most-watched film ever
Culture • 8:50 AM
4 min
Animated action musical 'KPop Demon Hunters' has become Netflix’s most-watched film with 236 million views – breaking the record set by the 2021 action film 'Red Notice'.<div class="small-12 column text-center article__button"><a href="https://www.euronew
Read the article
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement: Reactions – including Donald Trump’s strange comment
Culture • 7:47 AM
16 min
It's all everyone is talking about: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have announced their engagement. Celebrities, Swifties, royals, businesses and even Donald Trump have reacted to the news. Here's everything you need to know.<div class="small-12 column tex
Read the article
Think about the future: Porto's photography biennale imagines 'tomorrow today'
Culture • 6:33 AM
3 min
Porto’s Bienal’25 Fotografia has gathered international artists and curators across multiple venues in the city to look through the lens of the future to capture visions of themes ranging from climate change and post-colonial legacies to gender and migrat
Read the article