Barbara Hepworth 1903 - 1975

Barbara Hepworth was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1903 and studied at Leeds School of Art (1919-20) and the Royal College of Art between 1921-1924. From 1924-6 she lived in Italy where she met her first husband, the sculptor John Skeaping. Hepworth met her second husband, Ben Nicholson, in 1930 and the couple moved to Carbis Bay, Cornwall in 1939. She moved to Trewyn Studio, St Ives in 1949 and in 1950 the Arts Council commissioned two works for the Festival of Britain. In the same year a retrospective of her work was presented at the Venice Biennale. In 1963 she was awarded a major commission for the Dag Hammarskjold Memorial at the office of the United Nations, New York. Barbara Hepworth died in Trewyn Studio in 1975.

works in the collection - 27

PAC/009

Hepworth returned to drawing the figure at regular intervals throughout her career, often at moments of transition. 1929 was a key period in her development. Her figurative carvings achieved a scale and confidence that released her work from the conformity of the block. Hepworth spent two years in Italy where she met and married her first husband John Skeaping. Her training at the British School in Rome under the master carver Ardini engendered her lifelong engagement with classical culture and the human form.

Figure, 1929-30


PAC/010

By 1931 Hepworth's work was beginning to shift towards abstraction. This work was made the year she met her second husband Ben Nicholson.

Figure in Sycamore, 1931


PAC/012

Made in the first year of her relationship with Ben Nicholson, this work highlights the rich exchange of ideas that the two artists enjoyed. Nicholson's paintings of this period are characterised by their heavily inscribed and abraded paint surfaces. 'Two Heads' was exhibited in November 1932 at the first joint exhibition featuring Hepworth and Nicholson at Arthur Tooth and Son's Galleries, London. The critical response to this show propelled Hepworth to the forefront of the direct carving movement in Britain.

Two Heads, 1932


PAC/011

This sculpture was made following a trip to France and visits to the studios of Arp and Brancusi. It is one of a number of paired forms that the artist made in the early 1930s during a transition in her practice from figuration to abstraction. Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Henry Moore formed the central axis of a group of avant-garde artists living in Hampstead during the 1930s. This association was a defining force in British modernism; it lead to the formation of Unit One and publishing of Circle with Naum Gabo and JL Martin.

Large and Small Form, 1934


PAC/008

Hepworth and Nicholson had moved to Carbis Bay, Cornwall in August 1939, joined soon after by Naum Gabo and his wife, Miriam. 'Drawing for Sculpture' reflects Hepworth's awareness of the stringed Perspex sculptures that Gabo was making at this time. The outbreak of WWII and subsequent austerity measures restricted Hepworth's output. Between 1939 and 1942 she ran a nursery school and maintained a market garden. It was not until 1942 that she was able to establish a studio and resume carving.

Drawing for Sculpture, 1942


PAC/014

The piece is an ovoid with four piercings that penetrate the exterior of the block. Its white painted interior is complicated by several interlocking oval voids. Hepworth equated the structure of 'Oval Sculpture' to caves beneath the Cornish landscape and foetal forms. Many artists in Penwith in the 1940s were exploring the potential of oval forms in their work. Naum Gabo, Peter Lanyon and John Wells produced a number of paintings and sculptures at this time that featured inwardly spiralling compositional forms.

Oval Sculpture, 1943


PAC/067

Unable to carve during the first years of WWII, Hepworth made an extended series of drawings, many of which appear to resolve a form in three dimensions. The precise geometry and non-representational nature of these works highlight her interest in Constructivism.

Curved Forms with Green, 1943


PAC/038

This image appears to represent a fully resolved carving that occupies actual space but, like many of Hepworth drawings of the 1940s, it was not intended as a preparatory study but a work in its own right. Hepworth made a number of works that featured oval or curved forms at this time. She equated the shape to caves beneath the Cornish landscape and foetal forms. Other artists such as Gabo, Wells and Lanyon were also exploring the potential of oval forms in their work in the 1940s.

Curved Stone, 1946


PAC/017

This piece is one of two works from 1946 that Hepworth titled Involute. At the time, Hepworth made a number of abstract sculptures that interpreted her fascination with geometry in a less rigorous, more organic way, than her earlier work. This work was exhibited in Hepworth's first post-war solo exhibition at Alex. Reid & Lefevre, London. In the same year she was invited by London County Council to submit maquettes for four sculptures at the ends of Waterloo Bridge.

Involute II, 1946


PAC/016

The experience of Venice and its architecture produced two other related works, all carved in white Serravezza marble, which dealt with the same theme. The selection of Hepworth to represent Britain at the 25th Biennale marked a wider international recognition of her art. Hepworth was offered the opportunity to make two significant public commissions for The Festival of Britain in 1951, 'Contrapuntal Forms' and 'Turning Forms'. The success of the Festival and Hepworth's contributions led to a number of significant commissions throughout her career.

Group III (evocation), 1952


PAC/013

The development of new materials during the 1950's allowed Hepworth, and her long-standing studio assistant Dennis Mitchell, to evolve a working process that resolved her earlier antipathy for bronze casting. She adopted expanded aluminium sheeting as the armature for her plaster maquettes. This material offered Hepworth a greater immediacy in the making of her bronze pieces. Her response is evident in the surface treatment of 'Curved Form (Trevalgan)', which displays an organic quality derived from the immediacy of the modelling process.

Curved Form (Trevalgan), 1956


PAC/015

This work is one of two maquettes made for the rotating sculpture, 'Theme on Electronics (Orpheus)' 1956, commissioned by the electronics firm Mullard Ltd for their corporate headquarters in Bloomsbury, London. Although Hepworth had used strings to articulate space since the 1940s, their combination with new materials, such as sheet brass, was an innovation of the late 1950s. This work aligns her Constructivist concerns for space with mythical allusions to the lyre of Orpheus.

Orpheus (Maquette 1), 1956


PAC/039

Although this painting is not a preparatory work for a sculpture, it is reminiscent of the bronze, 'Curved Form (Trevalgan)', of 1956. Hepworth expressed an interest in Taschism and the gestural execution of this work equates with the concept of painterly expressionism prevalent in the late 50s. Hepworth achieved international recognition in the late 50s when she represented Britain at the Venice Biennale and the Biennale Sao Paulo. This coincided with a period of diversification in her studio practice resulting in an emphasis on immediacy and organic form.

Forms Ascending, 1957


PAC/047

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs, of which this work is a part, was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, published in 1971, developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner.

Two Marble Forms - Mykonos (from 12 Lithographs), 1968


PAC/048

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs, of which this work is a part, was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, published in 1971, developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner.

Squares and Circles (from 12 Lithographs), 1968


PAC/056

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs, of which this work is a part, was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, published in 1971, developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner.

Seaforms (from 12 Lithographs), 1968


PAC/057

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs, of which this work is a part, was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, published in 1971, developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner.

Argos Square Forms (from 12 Lithographs), 1968


PAC/050

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs, of which this work is a part, was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, published in 1971, developed from her fascination with Greece, following a visit in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner.

Pastorale (from 12 Lithographs), 1968


PAC/049

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

Two Ancestral Figures (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/052

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

High Tide (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/053

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

Forms in a Flurry (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/054

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

Assembly of Square Forms (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/055

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

Opposing Forms (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/063

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

Three Forms (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/064

Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969-71. Opposing Forms, of which this work is a part, was published in 1970 by the artist's gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London. Unlike the prints made for the Aegean Suite in 1971, the images in this collection explore formal or less specific subjects.

December Forms (from Opposing Forms), 1969


PAC/051

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, of which this work is a part, was published in 1971. The images developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with her friend Margaret Gardiner.

Delos (from the Aegean Suite), 1970


PAC/070

Hepworth made two sets of lithographs with the Curwen Press, London between 1969-71. 12 Lithographs was published in 1969 from drawings made at the artist's studio in St Ives. The Aegean Suite, of which this work is a part, was published in 1971. The images developed from her fascination with Greece following a visit in 1954 with her friend Margaret Gardiner.

Itea (from the Aegean Suite), 1970