Hepworth art gallery announces plans for 10th birthday exhibition

The 10th anniversary exhibition will show older works such as Pierced Hemisphere 1 by Barbara Hepworth in 1937

The Hepworth art gallery has announced plans to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a major exhibition.

The Wakefield gallery opened on the banks of the River Calder in May 2011 to replace the city's former art gallery which opened in 1934.

Director Simon Wallis said Vision & Reality would feature works by artists from 2020, as well as sculptures and paintings from the past century.

The gallery was named after Barbara Hepworth, born in Wakefield.

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Local industrialists and benefactors started gifting works to Wakefield in the early-1920s and the collection was developed by "forward-thinking" founding director, Ernest Musgrave, who supported local emerging artists in the 1930s such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, Mr Wallis said.

The city now has more than 5,300 works, many of which are on show at the Hepworth.

More contemporary works such as The Island - a large drawing by Rosanne Robertson, bought by the gallery in 2020 - will also feature

In 2004 construction of a new £35m gallery, designed by architect David Chipperfield, began after it was decided the city needed a new home for its large collection and it was named after 1930s sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born in the town.

Mr Wallis said the 10th anniversary exhibition would show the art collection as a "vital, living resource of national significance".

New acquisitions will go on display for the first time alongside older works.