BARBARA HEPWORTH
“There are not many artists who are that avant- garde, but also incredibly accessible”
was becoming more destructive. She was willing to say this, her job was to say this when she could, but produce something that was very positive,” says Dr Smith. “The works are monolithic shapes, that could look like standing stones. “There are not many artists who are that avant-garde, but also incredibly accessible. She would have wanted people to go with their own feelings.” As a woman working in what was considered by many to be a man’s world, Hepworth was initially ambivalent towards being labelled a ‘woman artist’. “But from the 1960s, her gender becomes more positive. She writes a lot about the feminine in her work, she does interviews,” explains Dr Smith. With so many stunning works in one show, it’s hard to leave without feeling optimistic. “There’s a sense of going back to earlier forms, a sense of completeness, of doing something more,” explains Dr Smith. “It’s like a pierced stone, but taken one step further.” Divided Circle runs until 2 February at the Heong Gallery, Downing College. dow.cam.ac.uk
part of this desire to remind people of good things. People come away feeling like they’ve had a beautiful experience,” says Dr Smith. As Jeanette Winterson described, for Hepworth, “holes were not gaps, but connections”. Inspired, perhaps by the physicality of motherhood. “Small Hieroglyph is a perfect opener. It relates to the human body and says so much about how clever she is, using forms that refer back to our own bodies,” says Dr Smith of the bronze piece, made in 1959. In today’s modern world, marked by political crises and an escalation, perhaps, of the same sense of destruction that influenced Barbara Hepworth, this connectivity of art takes on a revitalised role. In 1947, Hepworth – fascinated by processes that heal – was invited to observe surgeons at work in a hospital. It’s no surprise that many of the resulting works feel like monuments to a harmonising beauty that unites and uplifts, from the flower-like effervescence of Forms In Movement (Galliard), to the bold, brilliant Miniature Divided Circle. “I was struck by how frequently she mentioned politics of the day, how society
Hepworth’s work. The piercing of form with holes became a signature for Hepworth, and she and Moore packed up four crates of the iron stone pebbles for carving after their holiday. This was also the spot where she fell in love with Ben Nicholson, forming one of British art’s great powerhouse couples. Years later, the ‘pierced form’ remains a sign, of sorts, for modern art, marking a shift for sculpture itself, to invite interaction. “The carving and piercing of such a form seems to open up an infinite variety of continuous curves in the third dimension,” Hepworth wrote in 1946. “Here is sufficient field for exploration to last a lifetime.” She was right. Many of the features that defined her work – curves and polish, a sense of connection to the landscape and material, the enriching relationship between space and absence – were developed throughout her life. “Her later works were really sensual, bringing out our desire to touch things, love things. Emotional desire may come from motherhood, or infancy, like bringing up twigs, taking them home. It’s
17
C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0
Powered by FlippingBook