Women's sculpture show marks 75 years of Arts Council Collection

Works by renowned British female artists including Rachel Whiteread and Barbara Hepworth have gone on show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The exhibition, entitled "Breaking the Mould", examines women's sculpture since 1945 and marks the 75th anniversary of the Arts Council Collection.

It also includes pieces previously unseen including a toilet shaped into a seashell by Rose Finn Kelcey.

Arts Council Collection said it was committed to "reflecting diversity".

The exhibition, which has opened at the park's Longside Gallery, features more than 50 works by artists including Sarah Lucas, Mona Hatoum and Kim Lim.

Nine works from the collection are being displayed to the public for the first time including a ceramic sculpture of a pillow held between dimpled thighs by Katie Cuddon.

Many of the 50 artists featured have "challenged ingrained notions of sculpture as a 'male occupation' by embracing new materials, subjects and approaches", while others have "avoided institutional bias by producing work for alternative spaces," Arts Council Collection said.

"This exhibition provides a radical recalibration, addressing the many accounts of British sculpture that have marginalised women or airbrushed their work out of the art historical canon altogether," it said.

Deborah Smith, director of the Arts Council Collection, added: "This is the largest survey of its kind to date, it demonstrates the breadth and depth of works in our collection and our ongoing commitment to reflecting diversity within our acquisitions and programmes."

The show runs until 5 September and will move to Nottingham before heading to Plymouth, Hull and Walsall.

The Arts Council Collection, which was formed when the Arts Council of Great Britain was founded in 1946, supports and promotes British artists by buying and displaying their work.

It holds in excess of 8,000 artworks, of which more than 250 are sculptures by women.