Barbara Hepworth

1
Barbara Hepworth

• Kristin Rorie
• Period 1 Sculpture

2
About the Artist

• Born January 10, 1903
• Died May 20, 1975
• Known as a great, contemorary sculpture and
  friend to Henry Moore
• Studied as a young artist at Leeds School of Art
  (where she befriended Moore)
• Later studied for a period of time in Italy
• One of most popular works was Single Form
  (1961-1964)
• Married and divorced sculptor John Skeaping
• Her studio and home is now the Barbara Hepworth
  Museum

3

• At no point do I wish to be in conflict with any
  man or masculine thought. It doesn't enter my
  consciousness. Art is anonymous. It's not
  competitive with men. It's a complementary
  contribution.

4

• One must be entirely sensitive to the structure
  of the material that one is handling. One must
  yield to it in tiny details of execution, perhaps
  the handling of the surface or grain, and one
  must master it as a whole.

5

• Body experience...
• is the centre of creation.

6

• I felt the most intense pleasure in piercing the
  stone in order to make an abstract form and
  space quite a different sensation from that of
  doing it for the purpose of realism.

7

• I must always have a clear image of the form of
  a work before I begin. Otherwise there is no
  impulse to create.

8

• My works are an imitation of my own past and
  present.

9
Timeline

• 1903- Born in West Riding of Yorkshire
• 1921- Royal College of Art on Senior Scholarship
• 1924- Finalist for Prix de Rome
• 1926- Exhibit in her studio in St. Johns Wood
• 1928- Second exhibition Beuax Gallery in London
• 1929- Son Paul born
• 1934- November had triplets- 2 daughters and son
• 1938- London was a hard place for artists to make
  any kind of living due to the war
• 1949- Hepworth acquired a new studio in a
  sheltered position where she was able to carve
  out of doors nearly all the year round

10

• 1950- Hepworths work was shown in the Venice
  Biennale of 1950
• 1951- Marriage to Ben Nicholson ends
• 1953- first child Paul was killed in an air crash
• 1954- made a journey to Greece in an attempt to
  reconcile herself to her son's deathShe wrote at
  this period 'Sculpture to me is primitive,
  religious, passionate and magical - always
  affirmative.
• 1958-Hepworth was made Commander of the British
  Empire
• 1959- gradually she was able to buy many of the
  properties surrounding the studio she had
  acquired

11

• 1962-63- a large bronze was commissioned to stand
  next to the United Nations Building in New York,
  in memory of Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold
• 1964- diagnosed with cancer
• 1965-appointed a Trustee of the Tate Gallery in
  London
• 1975- she died as the result of a fire in her
  studio, perhaps caused by a cigarette setting
  light to the bedclothes
• 1976-studio itself was opened as a museum

12
Elements of Design

• Hepworths main element of design used thoroughly
  throughout her works is space.
• SPACE Actual space is a three-dimensional volume
  that can be empty or filled with objects. It has
  width, height, and depth. Space that appears
  three-dimensional in a painting is an illusion
  that creates a feeling of actual depth. Various
  techniques can be used to show such visual depth
  or space.Barbara Hepworth, Figure for Landscape,
  1960

13
(No Transcript)
14

• Another element Hepworth frequently used is
  balance.
• BALANCE Balance refers to the distribution of
  visual weight in a work of art. In painting, it
  is the visual equilibrium of the elements that
  causes the total image to appear balanced.
  Balance can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical
  in a work of art.

15
Purpose and Material

• Barbara Hepworth was a key figure in the abstract
  movement in Britain. Her adherence to abstraction
  was lifelong and drew on geometric as well as
  organic shapes. It was she who introduced into
  England the idea of piercing the solid mass of
  sculpture with a "hole," making the object more
  transparent she consistently professed a Romantic
  attitude of emotional affinity with nature,
  speaking of carving both as a biological
  necessity and as an extension of the telluric
  forces which mould the landscape

16

• Hepworth, like her friend Moore, created
  sculptural forms derived from nature. She was
  especially inspired by the sea-washed rocks near
  her home in Cornwall. he sculpture's hollow
  interior becomes more important than the
  enveloping bronze. As the viewer's eye is drawn
  inside the sculpture, the openings invite the
  surrounding landscape to become part of the
  artwork.

17
Critical Thinking

• Barbara Hepworth was married to Ben Nicholson and
  worked with a group of artists who influenced
  each other. The Nicholsons and Moore worked close
  in harmony and became recognized as the nucleus
  of the abstract movement in England. This created
  a revolutionary new approach to European abstract
  sculpture of the 1930s. Characterized by highly
  simplified, organic forms, with affinities to the
  work of Moore and Hans Arp, Hepworth's
  abstractions are imbued with a dignified presence.

18
Works Cited

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hepworth
• www.victoriagal.org.uk
• www.geocities.com/ hepworth19031975/BH452.jpg
• www.tate.org.uk/stives/ exhibitions/hepworth/
• www.ou.edu/.../contemporary/ hepworth-figures.jpg
• www.hh-h.com/ Hepworth-InvoluteI-1946.htm
• keithchapman.homestead.com/ page9.html
• www.colchsfc.ac.uk/ art/contrast.htm
• http//members.cox.net/mrsparker2/elements.htm
• http//www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hepworth.html
• http//www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hepworth.html