The Hepworth Wakefield

Well, it has been a while since I last did any Unilocaling! I’ve gone to ground due to other commitments, most noticably the second year of a very intense university degree! But enough of all that … Due to my lack of presence, I thought that I would make a comeback in style. So here is my review of The Hepworth Wakefield for all you lovely Unilocalers out there!
The Hepworth Wakefield is apparently one of the largest specific built galleries outside London. It sits spectacularly on an island in central Wakefield with the River Calder rushing past its stained concrete exterior in quite a picturesque and dramatic way. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, the Hepworth Wakefield consists of ten superb gallery spaces in a stained concrete cube of a building. The gallery spaces are airy international style modernist affairs with light flooding in through the angled roofline. Upon approaching the gallery, the visitor is met by a gantry-​type bridge of a hard geometric form which crosses the river bridging the gallery and Wakefield city centre, again crossing a weir of the Calder.
The gallery brings together work from Wakefield’s art collection, exhibitions by contemporary artists and rarely seen works by Barbara Hepworth. Hepworth was brought up in Wakefield before moving to Europe and later to the south coast of England. Some of her major sculptures are displayed alongside notebooks, macquettes and studies giving the inquisitive viewer an exciting insight into her thought processes and ways of working. As well as the somewhat feminine and calming Modernist works of Moore and Hepworth, the viewer will be delighted to find a surprisingly diverse range of works from artists who lived and worked alongside Hepworth — such as Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron amongst others. There are also some beautiful paintings that nicely contextualise what was going on down in St. Ives — from Modernist geometric exploration of formal qualities of form and relationships to exquisitley naïve works of fishing harbours with surreal perspectives by lesser known artists (I will find their names and update this review — sorry). There is even a mature Mondrian to take in — apparently Mondrian exhibited with Hepworth in a group known as ‘The Circle’.
The collection also houses historical documentation of the city of Wakefield itself and the nearby Chantry Chapel. Watercolours, engravings, pencil sketches and oils record Wakefield with particular attention given to Chantry Bridge and Chapel — the site of many medieval battles. Visitors can sit and view Chantry Bridge and the Chapel from a comfortable interior seat after viewing the works — which has been specially located to view the chapel which sits perched on Chantry bridge.
There is also space for touring exhibitions and artists which is currently home to the work of Eva Rothschild before the paintings of Clare Wood take centre stage — an intelligent nod to the appreciation of landscape as well as careful and ironic questioning of Modernisms sculpture.
The café is of a moderate size serving everything from tea to continental coffees and small meals. (I will update this soon too)
The gift shop stocks books relating to Hepworth as well as the St Ives community. It is also nice to see the Hepworth Wakefield stocking applied arts pieces by local artist-​designers such as Laura Slater.
Toilets are on the ground floor and are clean and accessible.
With a café, shop, learning studios, outreach and community education rooms and a stimulating events programme, the gallery is an opportunity to explore the work of Barbarra Hepworth and artists that worked alongside her at St.Ives. It is a great addition to Wakefield and I hope it goes from strength to strength.
Entrance is free with donations accepted.