The Hepworth Wakefield is an art gallery in Wakefield

Wakefield

Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery, is situated on the south side of the River Calder

River Calder, West Yorkshire

The River Calder is a river in West Yorkshire, in Northern England.The Calder rises on the green eastern slopes of the Pennines flows through alternating green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford.The river's valley is...

 and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth

Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...

 who was born and educated in the city.

The gallery was designed by the British architect David Chipperfield

David Chipperfield

Sir David Alan Chipperfield CBE, RA, RDI, RIBA is a British architect, born in London. He has offices in London, Berlin and Milan, and a representative office in Shanghai...

 and built by Laing O'Rourke

Laing O'Rourke

Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1978....

 with funding from Wakefield Council, Arts Council England

Arts Council England

Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

 and the Heritage Lottery Fund

Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...

. Yorkshire Forward

Yorkshire Forward

Yorkshire Forward is the regional development agency for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom. It supports the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, environment and infrastructure...

, the Homes and Communities Agency

Homes and Communities Agency

The Homes and Communities Agency is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation, and became operational on 1 December 2008.-Background:On 17...

, and the European Regional Development Fund

European Regional Development Fund

The European Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-History:During the 1960s, the European Commission occasionally tried to establish a regional fund. Only Italy ever supported this, however, and nothing came of it. Britain made it an issue for their accession in...

 have also supported the building of the gallery alongside a number of charitable trusts, corporations and private individuals.

It is hoped that the gallery will add about £3 million to the local economy and will attract 150,000 visitors in its first year. Five weeks after opening, the gallery clocked up 100,000 visitors.

Architecture

The Hepworth Wakefield is a cluster of ten trapezoidal

Trapezoid

In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...

 blocks which form the structure; the upper-level galleries are lit by natural light from large windows in the pitched roofs. Its windows frame views of the river and historic waterfront and the city skyline. The façade of the building was made on site using self-compacting pigmented concrete, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The material was selected by the architects to emphasise the sculptural appearance of the building. The gallery will have ground-floor visitor facilities including a café and restaurant overlooking the river, a learning studio, a 100-seat auditorium and shop. The building's brutalist design is not universally popular among the local population which has, via the local council, contributed £18 million towards the cost.

Collection

The Hepworth's 1,600 square metres of purpose-built gallery space houses 44 plaster and aluminum working models donated by the late artist's family, alongside temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Wakefield's art collection, spanning the 16th century to the present day, will also be on display, including works by Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

, who was born in Castleford

Castleford

Castleford is the largest of the "five towns" district in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract, and has a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census, but has seen a rise in recent years and is now around 45-50,000. To the north...

 in the Wakefield district

City of Wakefield

The City of Wakefield is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. Wakefield is the district's administrative centre. The district includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley. Other...

, Ben Nicholson

Ben Nicholson

Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...

, Graham Sutherland

Graham Sutherland

Graham Vivien Sutherland OM was an English artist.-Early life:He was born in Streatham, attending Homefield Preparatory School, Sutton. He was then educated at Epsom College, Surrey before going up to Goldsmiths, University of London...

, Paul Nash

Paul Nash (artist)

Paul Nash was a British landscape painter, surrealist and war artist, as well as a book-illustrator, writer and designer of applied art. He was the older brother of the artist John Nash.-Early life:...

, Jacob Epstein

Jacob Epstein

Sir Jacob Epstein KBE was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter...

, Walter Sickert

Walter Sickert

Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....

, Anthony Caro

Anthony Caro

Sir Anthony Alfred Caro, OM, CBE is an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using 'found' industrial objects.-Background and early life:...

, Ivon Hitchens

Ivon Hitchens

Ivon Hitchens was an English painter who started exhibiting during the 1920s. He became part of the 'London Group' of artists and exhibited with them during the 1930s. His house was bombed in 1940 during World War II, at which point he moved to a caravan on a patch of woodland near Petworth in...

, LS Lowry, and David Hockney

David Hockney

David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....

. It is anticipated that the gallery will attract international contemporary art and historical exhibitions to Wakefield.

The gallery is a partner of Tate

Tate

-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...

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