Thieves steal Hepworth public art 2011/12/30 at 7:51 pm
Dec 20, 2011
A sculpture by artist Barbara Hepworth has been ripped from its plinth in a public park in south London in the latest of a spate of metal thefts.
The bronze work of art, called Two Forms (Divided Circle), was stolen overnight on Monday from Dulwich Park in Southwark.
Council staff discovered the theft on Tuesday morning after the park was unlocked and town hall bosses have offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves.
It comes as soaring prices for copper, lead and bronze have seen everything from railway lines, phone lines and even war memorials targeted by thieves.
Council leader Peter John said: “The theft of this important piece of 20th century public art from Dulwich Park is devastating. The theft of public art and metal is becoming a sickening epidemic. I would ask the Met Police and their metal theft task force to investigate this theft as a matter of urgency and would ask anyone with any information about the whereabouts of the sculpture to contact us or the police.”
Hepworth, who was made a CBE in 1958 and a DBE in 1965, died in a fire at her studio in St Ives in 1975. Her largest work, a 20ft high bronze sculpture called Single Form, stands in the United Nations Plaza in New York.
Thieves struck in Southwark a month ago when a statue of one of its MPs was stolen from a bench by the River Thames in Rotherhithe.
Scotland Yard launched a dedicated unit to tackle the growing problem of metal theft earlier this month. The Waste and Metal Theft Taskforce is to tackle the issue which is believed to cost the economy around £700 million a year.
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