Mixing it up at The Hepworth
We are not only gearing up to furnish your home with design classics priced to suit all pockets from carefully selected top dealers at the first Northern pop-up event from Modern Shows®. We also can’t wait to hear Trevor McNamee, the owner of Jalapeño Records, who counts Smoove & Turrell, The Allergies, Kraak & Smaak and Gizelle Smith amongst his oeuvre, playing some of his favourite records on vintage dealer wife Lesley of Retropolitan’s 1960s HMV Garrard Teak Vintage Record Deck.
Retropolitan
Modern Shows presents top midcentury dealers in furniture, ceramics, glass, clocks, industrial, art and posters. The selling exhibition of approximately 30 dealers primed for February 3/4 2018 will attract thousands of visitors not only for its location but also for the fact that this is the first time in 14 years that Petra Curtis and Lucy Ryder Richardson have travelled North of their South London base to host one of their celebrated Midcentury Modern® fairs.
Retrouvius
“We have had this seed of an idea to show in or around Manchester or Leeds for some time and kept trying to find venues but had not been able to find anything we felt comfortable with,” says Ryder Richardson. “When we stopped thinking about it, Hepworth Wakefield plopped perfectly into our laps. The team behind this outstanding gallery asked if we would come to them. We never had to put a bid in. We couldn’t be happier with the collaboration.”
Twentieth Century Marks
Expect to see fabulous Hollywood posters from Orson & Welles, iconic lighting, your top wish- list chairs, ceramics from the midcentury masters, an original Barbara Hepworth photograph or two, art from the era from Studiotic, glass and ceramics from David Lyons as well as the most fabulous vintage fabrics from Funky Vera. Industrial expert Retrouvius joins top dealers Twentieth Century Marks, 2 Columbia Road, Modern ID, Twentieth Century Antiques and Lynways, just a few of the dealers at this exciting new pop up.
Orson & Welles
Chat to dealers and purchase the work of Dutch, Scandinavian, American, British and Brazilian furniture designers. It’s worth noting that Wakefield used to be known as the Scandinavian capital of West Riding because of the amount of Danes who settled there after York was captured by the Vikings in 867 AD. There will be indestructible industrial design for people who like to mix organic modernism with something more raw in order to reflect Wakefield and its industrial roots.
The Hepworth Gallery’s Brutal exterior, designed by David Chipperfield architects as ten trapezoidal blocks, attracts architects from all over the world and could not be more of a perfect fit for Modern Shows®, a brand known for the architecture it shows in. The first building in the UK to be clad with self-compacting pigmented concrete, made on site at the time, the gallery has rooms filled with natural light and a wonderful peaceful feeling that comes from being near boats and water.
This £35 million gallery (opened in May 2011 and voted the Uk’s ‘museum of the year 2017’ by The Art Fund) likes to hold sales as a way of extending their remit to art lovers in the North West and beyond. Modern Shows® will be situated in one of the more industrial buildings in the former mill behind the gallery where the Calder river rushes past. All visitors will come across the bridge over the river Calder and through the modern part of the museum where they will be invited to view the 44 plaster and aluminum working models donated by Dame Barbara Hepworth’s family free of charge before attending the fair for a small admission fee.
The fair will have the kinds of beautiful pieces that would have graced the homes of Hepworth and her contemporaries, not to mention the houses of people she sold her pieces to. There was a huge explosion of creativity in the mid 20th century with artists and designers inspiring each other. The Hepworth Gallery is keen to show the links between the two with selling pop ups like Midcentury Modern®.
“more of a destination than a show”
2 Columbia Road
Sculptors Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Naum Gabo not to mention artists including Picasso and Miro inspired designers of the Midcentury Modern movement including the Eames, Finn Juhl, Lucienne Day, Stig Lindberg and Alexander Girard as founder Lucy is keen to illustrate in her first book 100 Midcentury Chairs and their stories which is currently getting five star reviews on Amazon and will be on sale in the gallery’s award-winning shop.
“design heaven”
If you are planning a weekend trip you won’t be disappointed. The Hepworth Wakefield is a wonderful place to visit. Close to the Yorkshire sculptor park it takes you back to a bygone age. You are even given a rendition of the ‘Hovis’ theme tune as you come out of Wakefield train station. Plan your visit here
Midcentury Modern® at The Hepworth Wakefield
3 – 4 February 2018
10am – 4pm
£5 / £3 Advance / £2 Member advance
Get ready for original pieces from Eames, Jacobsen, Sarpaneva and Wegner from the time Barbara Hepworth was at her peak. Impatient to see the kinds of pieces that will be on show? Head to the Modern Shows website or midcentury_modern on instagram