Barbara Hepworth
Born – Wakefield, England 1903
Died – St Ives, England 1975
Barbara Hepworth trained at Leeds and the Royal College. She made both representative and abstract work but it is for the latter that she is best known. Trips to Italy and to Paris in the 1920s and 1930s introduced her to marble-carving techniques and to the work of eminent artists including Arp, Mondrian and Brancusi. In 1934 she abandoned figuration but continued to use nature and the Mother and Child theme as her inspiration. Her bronze and marble forms were conceived originally as abstract response to her own vision of life. At this time, living in London, she came into contact with the artist, Naum Gabo, a refugee whose work affected her deeply. In 1939 she and her second husband the painter Ben Nicholson, settled in St Ives, Cornwall where they became the nucleus of an artistic community. Neolithic stones standing on the moors and the rugged coastline with its towering rocks and curving inlets made an impact on her ideas. She pierced holes in, hollowed out and painted forms, complementing their mass and volume by adding the tension of taught strings or wires. As somewhat of an outsider, that she gained recognition in a field dominated by men is a remarkable achievement.
Masterpieces:
- Pelagos
- Squares with Two Circles
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About barbara hepworth
Barbara Hepworth (World of Art)
A. M. Hammacher
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Barbara Hepworth: Centenary
Chris Stephens
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Pictorial Autobiography
Barbara Hepworth
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