PRESS RELEASE : Sculpture by celebrated artist Dame Barbara Hepworth at risk of leaving the UK [November 2024]

The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 27 November 2024.

A temporary export bar has been placed on Dame Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red.

• The sculpture has been valued at almost £3.7 million
• Export bar is to allow time for a UK gallery or institution to acquire the sculpture

An export bar has been placed on celebrated British artist Dame Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red.

Born in 1903 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Hepworth became one of the leading British artists of the 20th century, creating prominent sculptures for the 1951 Festival of Britain entitled ‘Contrapuntal Forms’, which are still on display in Harlow, Essex and her prestigious work ‘Single Form’, which stands in the plaza of the United Nations building in New York City.

Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red is a painted wood sculpture created in 1943. It is part of a larger series in Hepworth’s oeuvre, which she developed throughout the Second World War after she settled with her family in St. Ives, Cornwall.

The piece is a notable example of this series, which pioneered her stringed and coloured sculptures for the first time. Although this concept of colour and strings is understood to have been first conceived in London, Hepworth consistently associated these elements with the organic elements she observed in her rural surroundings in West Penrith.

This work also marks a pivotal moment in the artist’s development as a leading pioneer of the direct carving method and it is the only surviving oval carving after the first prototype of the series was broken when Hepworth cast it in bronze in 1961.

Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:

Dame Barbara Hepworth was a phenomenal artistic genius, who will continue to inspire future generations with her unique genre defining sculptures, which remain as powerful and engaging now as during her lifetime.

Hepworth was influenced by her surroundings and this sculpture is a beautiful insight into her new life in St.Ives after the outbreak of the Second World War.

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.

Stuart Lochhead, RCEWA Committee Member said:

Having moved to Cornwall at the outbreak of the Second World War, Barbara Hepworth found herself in a profoundly different environment where, even with limited resources, she produced ground breaking sculpture.

Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red embodies the Cornish sky, sea and rugged coastline, in which she lived and which influenced her so deeply. One of only a handful of stringed and coloured sculptures she produced during this period, it marks a significant evolution in her practice, bridging her pre-and post-war artistic developments. As such, this beautiful and immensely informative work by one of Britain’s greatest artists must be saved for the nation.

The Committee made its recommendation on the basis that the sculpture met the first, second and third Waverley criteria for its outstanding connection with our history and national life, its outstanding aesthetic importance and its outstanding significance to the study of Dame Barbara Hepworth’s working practice and the evolution of her work.

The decision on the export licence application for the sculpture will be deferred for a period ending on 26 February 2025 inclusive. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the sculpture at the recommended price of £3,652,180.63 (plus VAT of £129,800). The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for five months.

Notes to editors

1. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the sculpture should contact the RCEWA on 02072680534 or rcewa@artscouncil.org.uk.
2. Details of the sculpture are as follows: Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943. Painted wood and string, 50.2 cm. Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Barbara Hepworth/”Sculpture with colour/pale blue & red”/1943’ (on the underside of the base), painted wood and string, unique. This work is recorded as BH 119.
3. Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by Helen Sutherland in March 1944. Acquired from the above by Nicolete Gray, London, in 1966, and by descent. Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 1 July 1998, lot 20, Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 6 June 2008, lot 164, where purchased by the previous owner. Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 20 March 2024, lot 12, where purchased by the present owner.
4. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an  independent body, serviced by Arts Council England (ACE), which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.