The Hepworth Wakefield

The recently opened Hepworth Wakefield, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, puts the spotlight on Yorkshire as a world centre for sculpture.

Named after Barbara Hepworth, who was born in Wakefield in 1903 and lived there with her family until the age of 18, with 5,000 square metres of gallery space, the Hepworth Wakefield is the largest purpose-built art gallery to open in Britain since the Hayward on London's Southbank in 1968, and provides a permanent public legacy for the artist in her home city.

The gallery site has been developed at a cost of £35 million as part of the £100 million regeneration of Waterfront Wakefield. It includes the restoration of former mill and warehouse buildings, the development of new residential, office and leisure facilities, and outdoor landscaping with a new pedestrian bridge. The gallery is funded by founding partners Wakefield Council and The Hepworth Estate; major funders Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund with additional funding from European Regional Development Fund, Homes and Communities Agency and Yorkshire Forward.

Interior of the Hepworth Wakefield. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

The highlight of the Hepworth Wakefield's permanent collection is a group of over forty works given by her family that provides a unique insight into Barbara Hepworth's working methods and creativity. The Hepworth Family Gift, donated through a special scheme facilitated by the Art Fund, comprises a unique collection of prototypes and models in plaster, aluminium and wood, from which casts were made in bronze or aluminium at the foundry. The majority are original plasters on which Hepworth worked with her own hands. Shown alongside the plasters will be tools and materials from Hepworth's studio. The installation, spread over two dedicated gallery spaces, includes the full-size prototype made by Hepworth of perhaps one of her best- known sculptures, Winged Figure, commissioned for the John Lewis Partnership building in Oxford Street London and installed in 1963.

Highlights of the opening displays include works by Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, Victor Pasmore, and Ben Nicholson. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

The Hepworth Wakefield has forged partnerships with the nation's leading arts organisations including Tate, the Arts Council Collection and the British Council, to secure a programme of key loans that put the focus on Wakefield and Yorkshire as a centre for modern and contemporary art. The opening displays include works such as Danaïde by Constantin Brancusi (c. 1918) and Composition C (No.III) with Red, Yellow and Blue by Piet Mondrian (1935) from the Tate; The Snowstorm: Spiral Motif in Black and White by Victor Pasmore (1950-51) from the Arts Council Collection; 1935 (white relief) by Ben Nicholson from the British Council Collection and J.M.W. Turner's Wakefield Bridge (c.1798) from the British Museum.

The city's own collection, including over 6,000 works, built up over 80 years, includes important works by Barbara Hepworth and Yorkshire's other internationally celebrated artist, Henry Moore, alongside pieces by other leading British artists including David Bomberg, Harold Gilman, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Ben Nicholson, William Scott, Patrick Heron and Lucie Rie. The opening displays concentrate on Barbara Hepworth, placing her work in a local, national and international context.

Complementing the collection displays, the Hepworth Wakefield will present an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition Hot Touch will present the work of internationally acclaimed sculptor, Eva Rothschild, running from 21 May–9 October 2011 and will feature over 16 new works created by the artist specifically for the gallery spaces. It will be Rothschild's first major solo show in a UK public gallery for four years.

The Hepworth Wakefield, set in the historic waterfront area of Wakefield on a landmark site on the banks of the River Calder, was designed by the internationally acclaimed David Chipperfield Architects. Spread over 5,000 square metres, the visitor can explore 10 light-filled galleries and learning studios; an auditorium; an archive; café and shop with an outdoor terrace and gardens. These can all be accessed via a new pedestrian bridge over the River Calder, leading to The Hepworth Wakefield.

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The Hepworth Wakefield

The recently opened Hepworth Wakefield, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, puts the spotlight on Yorkshire as a world centre for sculpture.

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