A temporary export bar has been placed on Dame Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red
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:
Stuart Lochhead, RCEWA Committee Member said:
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