'I, the sculptor, am the landscape. I am the form and I am the hollow. The thrust and the contour.' This 1961 quote by Barbara Hepworth, written on a wall in one of the ten gallery spaces at the Hepworth Wakefield, reflects an understanding of the sculptor's own influences and attempts to avert any one-sided readings of her work.
Hepworth's fondness for the Yorkshire and Cornwall landscapes was doubtless formative in the development of her sculpture, but there was far more to her work than that, Penelope Curtis explained in her talk last Friday. Curtis was speaking at the Hepworth Wakefield, where two exhibitions form a prelude to this summer's Hepworth retrospective at Tate Britain, where Curtis currently presides as director.
Spread over the upper floor of the David Chipperfield Architects-designed building in West Yorkshire, 'A Greater Freedom: Hepworth 1965-1975' focuses on the last ten years of Hepworth's life, in which she explored new ideas and materials. The second exhibition, 'Hepworth in Yorkshire', offers a glimpse into her early life, displaying a selection of Hepworth's early artworks alongside archive photographs and a some of her own studio tools.
In her talk, Curtis also pointed out the importance of Hepworth's relationship to architecture and her belief in a unity of purpose within art, reflecting the wider context in which she worked. She wanted to do 'something bigger' than simply produce sculpture that would be treated as of secondary importance by architects. She endeavoured to reintroduce the human aspect of making and a sense of spontaneity in her work. By purposefully presenting her exhibitions as a bit of a jumble, as she often did by dotting potted plants between works placed on breeze blocks, Hepworth prefigured a more modern form of museum display.
Another exhibition at the gallery, titled 'Plasters: Casts and Copies' runs concurrently. Inspired by Hepworth's plaster prototypes, it surveys the modeling process from antiquity until the modern period. Standout pieces include 'Single Form', an abstract shape in blue painted plaster, which traveled to Paris during the war years, and Hepworth's prints from 'The Aegean Suite', which show a typically Sixties preoccupation with space travel. The exploratory show stands as a perfect complement to the duet of Hepworth exhibitions, forming additional proof of the sculptor's relationship with international artists and her striving to satisfy both the visual and social needs of society.
One of the exhibitions, 'A Greater Freedom', explores the last ten year's of Hepworth's life, in which she explored new ideas and materials. Pictured here is 'Three Forms' of 1968-69 in front of some of Hepworth's paintings, which she produced alongside her scupture all her life.
'Olympus' by Barbara Hepworth, 1971.
'Group of Three Magic Stones' by Barbara Hepworth, 1973.
'Oval with Two Forms' by Barbara Hepworth, 1971.
The shows are spread over the upper floor of the ten-room gallery, Courtesty of Hufton + Crow
'I, the sculptor, am the landscape. I am the form and I am the hollow. The thrust and the contour.' Pictured here is Hepworth's 'Totem' of 1961-62. Courtesy of Bowness, Hepworth Estate;
Hepworth, of chose to exhibit her works on breeze blocks plinths. The Hepworth Wakefield has taken this as a cue in 'A Greater Freedom'. Pictured here on breeze blocks is her 'Two Forms with White (Greek)' of 1963.
A second exhibition, 'Hepworth in Yorkshire', focuses on Hepworth's early life in the northern county.
The exhibition displays a number of archive photographs alongside early works and studio tools.
The show explores Hepworth's fondess for the Yorkshire landscape, where she grew up. Pictured here is a comissioned photograph of the monumental countryside by Lee Shadrake, taken in 1964.
Another of Shadrake's photographs, taken in 1964.
ADDRESS
The Hepworth Wakefield
Gallery Walk
Wakefield
WF1 5AW
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