The Hepworth Wakefield

A small former mining town which is only gradually recovering from the total loss of its coal mining industry  is hardly the place to expect, what can only be described as, a world class museum.

However, Barbara Hepworth was a world renowned artist, known mainly for her abstract sculptures. The museum named in her honour and containing a great deal of her work opened in the town of her birth in 2011. She was was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England in 1903 and educated at the Leeds School of Art alongside her great friend Henry Moore. Her most famous  work is located outside the United Nations  building  in New York which she created as a memorial  to the former Secretary  General, Dag Hammarsskjöld who was also a close friend  of hers. She is best known as the sculptor who introduced the pierced form to her abstract works, a feature which was later adopted by Henry Moore and who sometimes, wrongly, gets the credit.

 The building was designed by David Chipperfield. It is a great example of modern architecture  which contrast very well with a group of magnificent former industrial buildings in brick (now including many work spaces for creatives) which are just at the southern boundary  of the museum. The trapezoid  forms of the concrete structure which forms the museum  "dips its feet" on one side into the River Calder, directly  alongside a very attractive  weir and directly across  the road from the famous Chantry Chapel.

The collection  includes work from a range of artists  including LS Lowry . Henry Moore, Ronald Moody and David Hockney. There is  also much space for regularly changing temporary  exhibitions (including rotation of the City's art collection) and a small sculpture  garden outside.

The institution is deliberately described here as a museum rather than a gallery since great effort is made to enlighten the visitor as to the processes used in creating the art.

This museum  is well  worth the visit, particularly  if you also take in the Chantry Bridge. Some seven miles to the southwest is the Yorkshire Sculpture park which is an outdoor space with many, much larger modern sculptures. If you are travelling by car it is easy to incorporate a visit here with a trip to the Hepworth.