The Hepworth Family Gift consists of 44 full size, rarely seen working models – surviving prototypes in plaster and aluminium made in preparation for the works in bronze Hepworth executed from the mid-1950s to the end of her career. It also includes drawings and a large group of lithographs and screen prints by Barbara Hepworth, and has been given to The Hepworth Wakefield, via the Art Fund, by the artist’s daughters Rachel Kidd and Sarah Bowness, through the Trustees of the Barbara Hepworth Estate. The Hepworth at Work display explores Hepworth’s studio environment, her work in plaster, her collaborative relationships with bronze foundries and the monumental commissions she received in the last fifteen years of her life. The tools and materials on display were Hepworth’s own and have been drawn from her second studio in St Ives, the Palais de Danse. Also featured is a step-by-step reconstruction of the bronze-casting process, photographs of works in progress and four specially commissioned films containing archival footage of the artist in her studio. The gallery introduces The Hepworth Family Gift, a unique collection of Hepworth’s working models that is on permanent display at The Hepworth Wakefield. Representing the first stage of the creative process, they offer an invaluable insight into her art and, in particular, her approach to working with plaster. The collection reflects the variety of ways in which Hepworth used plaster and aluminium. She preferred to make prototypes on the same scale as the finished sculptures and would have worked directly on the majority of these models. The centrepiece of the Gift is the aluminium prototype for Winged Figure, 1961 – 3, the sculpture commissioned by John Lewis Partnership for their flagship store on Oxford Street, London. At nearly six metres high, this is the only working model to survive for the monumental commissions Hepworth received in later life.

British artist Helen Chadwick (1953 – 1996) embraced the sensuous aspects of the natural world, breaking taboos of the ‘traditional’ or ‘beautiful’ in art history. This major retrospective will be the first in over 25 years, and will chart the development of Chadwick’s art from her renowned degree show piece In the Kitchen (1977) through to her Piss Flowers (1991–2). Chadwick’s experiments across mediums were innovative and unconventional; typically combining aesthetic beauty with an alliance of unusual, often grotesque materials. She consistently expressed a feminist perspective steeped in humour, and employed a vast range of materials in unexpected ways, incorporating bodily fluids, meat, flowers, chocolate and compost into her works. Through her skilled use of traditional fabrication methods and sophisticated technologies, she quickly established herself as a leading figure amongst Britain’s post-war avant-garde, becoming one of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize in 1987. The exhibition will highlight Chadwick’s significant impact and contributions to British and international art history by demonstrating her relevance to contemporary feminist concerns, her evolution of material culture and her consistently playful approach. One of ‘the exhibitions you must see in 2025’ Art Fund ‘Helen Chadwick was a force of nature – outspoken, inventive and full of ideas. Her death in 1996 at 42 curtailed a career marked by its adventurousness and use of a startling range of materials.’ Adrian Searle, The best art and architecture shows to visit in 2025, The Guardian ‘The influential British artist Helen Chadwick (1953-1996) wasn’t just innovative and unconventional, she was also funny. Her feminist explorations and subversions of what is beautiful or natural used unexpected materials (bodily fluids, meat, flowers, chocolate, compost) alongside both traditional and emerging technologies.’ Nancy Durrant, The 10 best exhibitions to see in 2025, The Times The Guardian The Times Creative Tourist 4 April – 4 November 2025, Leeds Art Gallery, FREE Fri 16 May, 7-10pm, FREE. No need to RSVP, just turn up! Publishing this spring, in association with The Hepworth Wakefield, the first critical biography of Helen Chadwick. Edited by Laura Smith, Director of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield. Exhibition Supporters: The Helen Chadwick Exhibition Circle: Marguerite Steed Hoffman & those who wish to remain anonymous Paint Partner: Chocolate Partner: Publication Supporter:

‘The subject of my paintings in its broadest sense is women’s experience, whether that is the imagined interior life of a glimpsed shop worker, a closely observed portrayal of my mother working in the family home, or women I’ve had the privilege of spending time with, in their place of work. From the anonymous to the highly personal, what links all these subjects is an investigation of an experience which is specifically female.’ Caroline Walker Caroline Walker (b.1982, Dunfermline) studied painting at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, and is known for her accomplished paintings which offer a lens into the everyday lives of women. Through her large canvases, intimate panels and ink sketches, she portrays diverse female subjects in settings that blur the boundaries between public and private. Her works reveal the complex social, cultural and economic experiences of women living in contemporary society. The exhibition will bring together works made over the past five years with new paintings exploring themes of motherhood and early-years care. Caroline Walker: Mothering is accompanied by an illustrated monograph of the same title, published by Lund Humphries in September 2025. The exhibition will travel to Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, from 22 November 2025 – 10 May 2026. One of ‘the exhibitions you must see in 2025’ Art Fund ‘Tender and poignant snapshots of daily life, their realism counteracted by a loose and luminous painterly style.’ Galerie 17 May - 27 October 2025 Fri 16 May, 7-10pm, FREE. No need to RSVP, just turn up! Headline Supporters: Exhibition Supporter: Paint Partner: