What happened to £469k raised from controversial sale of Herts Council’s artworks?

LESS than a quarter of the £469k raised from the auction of the county council’s art collection had been spent – four years after the works were sold.

The county council took the controversial decision to sell-off or give-away the bulk of the artworks in 2017.

And in a series of three public auctions two years later, 450 artworks were sold – with a further thousand being given to schools, academies and other public organisations.

The council vowed to use the funds raised from the auctions to improve the condition of the remaining items.

And they said it would be used to increase the public visibility of the council’s four nationally significant sculptures.

But now the Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned that in the last four years – between April 2019 and April 2023 – just over £100,000 of the £469,000 has been spent.

That has included £49,650 for ‘physical work’ to the Hepworth sculpture Turning Forms and a further £1,674 for tapestry preservation.

It also includes £53,000 to pay for council officer time – to curate the collection (£10,000), working on ‘Turning Forms’ (£25,000) and for photography and cataloguing (£18,000).

And as a result of work already undertaken images of the sculptures have been added to The Art UK website – with images of all the artworks also available on the council’s website.

Meanwhile a further £37,000 has been ring-fenced for further ‘art collection work programmes’ this year (2022/23).

The county council say that although a ‘portion’ of the money raised at auction remains unspent, it has been ‘ring-fenced’ for work, as it is required.

“The council made a commitment to use some of the funds raised from the sale of artwork to preserve items that remained in our collection,” said a spokesperson for the county council.

“And since the sale, monies raised have been used to catalogue, photograph and make pieces from our collection accessible on-line, while preservation works have also been undertaken on important sculptures and tapestries.

“While a portion of the money identified for this process remains unspent, these funds are ring-fenced, and will be used over the coming years to continue the work as required.”

Backing the council’s approach executive member for education, libraries and lifelong learning Cllr Caroline Clapper said: “I am pleased we are looking after the collection properly.

“Some of the pieces are very valuable and we need to ensure they continue to be preserved for generations to come.

“They are part of the story of Hertfordshire.”

According to the county council, 189 artworks have remained on display in schools, academies, libraries and in County Hall.

Ongoing work is said to include a review of the conservation needs of all the works, including the inclusion of annotation and contextual information.

And work is said to be continuing to identify additional venues where the remaining art works could be viewed.

Meanwhile officers say work has also been undertaken to package and improve storage of 72 works to prevent further deterioration – and to enable safe handling and access whilst in storage.

Included in the council’s retained collection are four nationally significant sculptures – Henry Moore’s ‘Family Group’; Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Eocene’ and ‘Turning Forms’; as well as the statue of Queen Eleonor, originally at Waltham Cross.

And the council stresses that these sculptures have always been on display.

Henry Moore ‘Family Group’ sculpture is ‘on display’ at the Barclay Academy in Stevenage.

Hepworth’s ‘Eocene’ is ‘on display’ at St. Albans School and her ‘Turning Forms’ is at Marlborough Academy, in Stevenage.

Meanwhile the statue of Queen Eleonor, originally at Waltham Cross, is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum.