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The Hepworth Wakefield

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Established
  
2011

Website
  
The Hepworth Wakefield

Founded
  
2011

Type
  
Art Gallery

Phone
  
+44 1924 247360

The Hepworth Wakefield

Location
  
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Address
  
Gallery Walk, Wakefield WF1 5AW, UK

Hours
  
Closed today MondayClosedTuesday10AM–5PMWednesday10AM–5PMThursday10AM–5PMFriday10AM–5PMSaturday10AM–5PMSunday10AM–5PMSuggest an edit

Similar
  
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, National Coal Mining M, Sandal Castle, Barbara Hepworth Museum, Pugneys Country Park

Profiles

Welcome to the hepworth wakefield mov


The Hepworth Wakefield is an art gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born and educated in the city.

Contents

The gallery was designed by British architect David Chipperfield, who won an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions and was built by Laing O'Rourke with funding from Wakefield Council, Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Yorkshire Forward, the Homes and Communities Agency, and the European Regional Development Fund have also supported the building of the gallery alongside a number of charitable trusts, corporations and private individuals. The Hepworth Wakefield is a registered charity under English law.

The gallery cost £35 million to build. Five weeks after opening it had received 100,000 visitors. In May 2012 it celebrated its first birthday, having received over 500,000 visitors in the year. In October 2015, the gallery launched the £30,000 biennial The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture as part of the celebrations marking its 5th anniversary.

The hepworth wakefield by david chipperfield architects


Architecture

The Hepworth Wakefield is a structure composed of ten trapezoidal blocks; its upper-level galleries are lit by natural light from large windows in the pitched roofs. Its windows have views of the river, historic waterfront and the city skyline. The building's façade is clad with self-compacting pigmented concrete made on site, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. The architects selected the material to emphasise the gallery's sculptural appearance. The gallery has ground-floor visitor facilities, including a café bar overlooking the river, a learning studio, a 100-seat auditorium and shop. The building's brutalist design is not universally popular with local people.

Collection

The Hepworth Wakefield's 1,600 square metres (17,000 sq ft) of purpose-built gallery space houses 44 plaster and aluminum working models donated by Dame Barbara Hepworth's family and temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Items from Wakefield's art collection which spans the 16th century to the present day are on display, including works by Henry Moore, who was born in Castleford in the Wakefield district, Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash, Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert, Anthony Caro, Ivon Hitchens, LS Lowry, and David Hockney.

The gallery is a partner of Plus Tate, a project aimed at increasing public access to the national collection of British and international modern and contemporary art.

Awards

A year after opening, The Hepworth Wakefield was named Regional Building of the Year for 2012 by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The gallery was short-listed for the Art Fund Prize in 2012.

References

The Hepworth Wakefield Wikipedia