BARBARA HEPWORTH
RUTHIE COLLINS FINDS OUT MORE ABOUT A LOCAL EXHIBITION FEATURING WORK BY REVERED ARTIST BARBARA HEPWORTH
series of stunning abstract sculptures by Barbara Hepworth – one of the greatest British sculptors in art history –
can be seen at Divided Circle at the Heong Gallery, Downing College, this month until Sunday, 2 February. A prolific artist, Hepworth created more than 600 sculptures during her life, which can now be found all over the world. Cambridge is certainly no stranger to her work, with pieces on display at the Jim Ede House at Kettle’s Yard, in the garden of Churchill College, and at the New Hall Art Collection. But this is the first time that so many of her works have been exhibited together in one place in the city. A selection of pieces made in the last 20 years of her life, this display demonstrates her work today has the same appeal and freshness as when she first earned recognition as a standout British sculptor within the Modernist movement. The name of the show is inspired by keynote piece, Two Forms (Divided Circle), made in 1969, an extraordinary time for Hepworth. “I at last had space and money and time to work on a much bigger scale,” she said of this period. “I
Many associate Barbara Hepworth with St Ives in Cornwall, but it was a remarkable meeting of artists here in East Anglia – not just with each other but with the natural landscape – that would change the course of British modern sculpture forever. Happisburgh, known to many Cambridge residents for its iconic striped lighthouse, is still full of the same distinctive ‘witch stones’ – pebbles with holes caused by natural water erosion – that fascinated Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore when they stayed there with friends in 1931. This interplay between form and absence still shines throughout
had felt inhibited for a very long time over the scale on which I could work... It’s so natural to work large – it fits one’s body.” You can see the bronze sculpture on the grass outside the gallery, on loan from the Hepworth estate. “She’s playing with our expectations, the shape is a circle from a distance, but the closer you get, you realise they are two forms, they have a force holding them together. I find it fascinating that she called it two forms first,” explains curator, Dr Rachel Rose Smith. “She’s trying to say that it’s both, that’s ok – people will see things differently. People and forms can be complex, that’s enriching.”
IMAGES Hepworth’s work continued to break new ground throughout her life
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