Campaign for Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Gathers Momentum

Barbara Hepworth, Rock Form (1964) Photo © John M (cc-by-sa/2.0)

A campaign calling for the return of a Barbara Hepworth sculpture to the British shopping centre from which it was removed last June is attracting hundreds of supporters, the BBC reports.

Rock Form (1964), which is worth an estimated at £1 million, had been in the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton since its opening in 1968. Campaigners say that it was offered to the previous owner at cost price on the understanding that it would be publically displayed.

Now they fear that the current owners, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Delancey, are trying to dissociate the center and the sculpture in order to sell the latter privately.

The BBC writes that RBS and Delancey have stated they “were looking at ways of allowing the statue to continue to be enjoyed.”

They declined to say more about the plan for the sculpture itself. “It has simply been removed pending a major redevelopment of the shopping centre,” they said in a joint statement.


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