Hepworth sculpture on the move

Leeds Art Gallery has said a temporary farewell to a celebrated Yorkshire favourite.

Dual Form by Barbara Hepworth has been transported the short distance to the University of Leeds while the gallery is closed for major roof repairs.

The sculpture was bought from the artist by Leeds Art Fund back in 1967 and has been part of the collection at Leeds Art Gallery ever since.

The loan is part of Leeds Art Gallery’s ongoing commitment to make the collection accessible when the gallery building is closed for restoration.

Since closing earlier this year the gallery has loaned more than 150 paintings and sculptures from the gallery’s nationally renowned art collection to international, national and regional venues, enabling new audiences to see them. The long-term loan of Dual Form is also part of the gallery’s long-standing relationship with the University and has allowed the sculpture to remain on display in Leeds.

Initially on loan for five years, the iconic sculpture takes centre stage in the University’s Public Art Trail across campus and has a prominent position outside the stage@leeds building, near Leeds University Union.

Dual Form will be formally welcomed to campus with a short talk on Wednesday 10 August.

The sculpture is in good company, with other artists such as Eric Gill, Hubert Dalwood and Keith Wilson also featuring in the campus Public Art Trail.

Another recent addition to the trail is Simon Fujiwara, who unveiled his sculpture A Spire on campus last year.

Fujiwara forms part of Leeds Arts Gallery’s recent acquisition history, the sculpture Rebekkah was purchased in 2013 with support from by the Contemporary Art Society. Fujiwara also exhibited at Leeds Art Gallery last year as part of the hugely successful British Art Show 8.

Councillor Brian Selby, Leeds City Council’s lead member for museums and galleries, said: “It’s great news that Dual Form will still be on display in Leeds and that people will still be able to view and appreciate this important piece of sculpture.

“Barbara Hepworth is one of our region’s celebrated artists and we’re very proud to have some of her work on display in Leeds. It’s important that, while the gallery itself is closed for repairs, we’re still able to make its world class collection accessible to the public as much as we can. I’m sure Dual Form will be a fantastic addition to the University’s art trail.”

University of Leeds Public Art Project Coordinator, Nicola Stephenson, said: “It is wonderful to welcome Barbara Hepworth’s Dual Form to campus to join our varied and expanding Public Art Trail.

“We are excited to include the sculpture in our Public Art programme of events, celebrating it with students, staff and members of the public alike.”

• The latest in the University’s series of free Public Art Shorts – Welcoming Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Dual Form’ to Campus – takes place from 12.45-1.15pm on Wednesday 10 August, meeting at stage@leeds. Curator Nathalie Levi will introduce the work in the context of Hepworth’s career. For details, visit https://goo.gl/zQsZjs

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Leeds Art Gallery; Sculpture Collection

Leeds Art Gallery have a longstanding relationship with the Henry Moore Institute, who oversee the administration and curatorial development of the Leeds Museums and Galleries sculpture collection. This partnership has built one of the strongest collections of British sculpture in the country.

With the introduction of support from the Henry Moore Foundation in 1982, through the establishment of the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture, Leeds confirmed its status as an international centre for the study and appreciation of sculpture.

The Leeds Sculpture Collection comprises of over 800 objects, 400 works on paper and the Henry Moore Institute Archive of over 270 collections of papers relating to sculptors. The collections are principally British from c.1875 to the present day.

The collections are actively acquired through both donation and purchase, with the sculpture and archive collections supplemented by the Henry Moore Institute Research Library, which provides invaluable research material on the holdings. Together the collections form a fuller teaching and study resource than any other national or regional collection. www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery

Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle

Leeds Art Gallery is part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle a partnership founded in March 2012 between four of the region’s most influential visual arts organisations: Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Every year more than 1 million art lovers enjoy world-class exhibitions by contemporary and modern artists at these venues which are within a 30-minute drive, bus or train ride from each other. Through an ambitious programme of shared exhibitions and events, in addition to their own public programmes, Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle aims to raise the profile of Yorkshire’s unique sculpture heritage as the birthplace of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, and to establish Yorkshire as one of the best places to see contemporary and modern sculpture in the world. www.ysculpture.co.uk

Public Art at the University of Leeds

The University of Leeds implemented its Public Art Strategy in 2015, with a vision for an inspirational, integrated, and connected Public Art Programme. Public Art has played a key role on the University of Leeds campus from the controversial Eric Gill First World War Memorial (dedicated 1923) to Sign for Art (Stelae 2014) by Keith Wilson, unveiled in 2014. Public Art on campus enhances the experience of students, staff, local communities and visitors, reflecting the academic research themes and learning activities of University life.

Its public sculptures are administered through The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, where regular displays reflecting public commissions are programmed. The Public Art Trail forms part of the University’s Public Art Strategy, with the aim of drawing attention to the eclectic and impressive sculpture collection on campus. https://library.leeds.ac.uk/public-art

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery is an accredited art museum at the heart of the University of Leeds campus, refurbished in 2008 with funds from the Audrey & Stanley Burton Charitable Trust. The Gallery offers both a programme of temporary exhibitions and a display of selected treasures from the University Art Collection, in its main gallery. An Education Room houses the University’s collection of drawings and works on paper, while also offering space for private study, research and teaching.

Accumulated over more than a hundred years, the Collection consists mainly of European, principally British, paintings, drawings and prints, dating from the 17th century up to the present day, with small collections of sculpture, ceramics, and photographs. Outstanding elements are the Sadler Gift of early 20th-century British art, the collections of drawings and paintings by artists of the Camden Town and Bloomsbury groups and their contemporaries, and works by former Gregory Fellows in Painting and Sculpture, also the recent gift of works from the late Stanley & Audrey Burton’s personal collection of 20th-century British art.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Stuart Robinson

Communications Officer

Leeds City Council

Tel: 0113 224 3937

Email: stuart.robinson@leeds.gov.uk

www.leeds.gov.uk