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Lot Essay
Discussing the present work, Dr. Matthew Gale and Dr. Chris Stephens comment (op. cit., pp. 187-9): 'The textures of Barbara Hepworth's bronzes of 1958 are notably varied between the heavy encrustation of Garden Sculpture (Model for Meridian) (see lot 169) and the density of Torso II (Torcello). On the whole, the surface of Sea Form (Porthmeor) was smoothly worked in keeping with the stretched organic form. There are rough areas around the enclosing sides, but the folded-over lip-like forms have been burnished to shiny edges. This may have been exaggerated by handling or wear. In any case, it serves to enhance the contrast between the drier inner surface and seeming elasticity of the peripheries.
The sculpture was made in the way established in Hepworth's studio by this time. An armature of expanded aluminium was built to take the plaster specifically for bronze casting. The organic quality of Sea Form (Porthmeor) shows how far Hepworth and her assistants were able to develop the process away from the original metal sheet still evident in Curved Form (Trevalgan). The malleability of the aluminium is seen in the turned-over edges and puncturing with holes. The function of the strong rising diagonal within the form is not clear; it seems likely to be a welding joint, indicating that the sculpture was cast in two parts.
The casting was underway at the Art Bronze Foundry, Fulham, in early 1959. The unusual thickness of the bronze - c. 6 mm (¼ in.) - may indicate that there were problems with the process. The base is rather thinner, and the two are held together by bolts through a central bronze bar [ ...]. It is possible that the patination of the bronze was carried out at the studio. It was treated so that it was almost black both inside and on the back, and then covered with energetic dappling in green and white. The effect is crusty and contrasts with the smoothness of the sculpture's edges. The original white plaster, which is visible in the photograph of the sculptor's upstairs studio in January 1959 was painted with a broken green, presumably as a preliminary to the patination. The plaster was shown at the St Ives Guildhall when the sculptor received the Freedom of the Borough in 1968 and is now one of several such preparatory pieces on display at the Barbara Hepworth Museum [St Ives].
In combination with the form and patination, the title may identify the sculpture as a response to Porthmeor Beach in St Ives. Although Hepworth's studio turns towards the harbour rather than this Atlantic coast, Porthmeor was the site of artists' studios, including those occupied by Ben Nicholson and Terry Frost. To Herbert Read the sculptor described the 'extraordinary feeling being posed above the changing calligraphy of tide & water movement, sand & wind movement & the pattern of men's & birds' feet'. It has been observed that the sculpture 'in part based on her observation of breaking waves, and the pattern left on the beach by waves and tides'. In his assessment, Michael Shepherd held back from a literal equation between the surf and the form of the sculpture, writing that with 'its lipped edges, its amoebic or cellular organic forms, and its white-plastered metal as if salted from long immersion in seawater, [it] seems to belong to the living world of the sea'. However, Hepworth herself appeared to condone the association: 'I had ... become bewitched by the Atlantic beach. The form I call Porthmeor is the ebb and flow of the Atlantic'.
In laying stress on tidal movement, Hepworth hinted at her wider view of sculpture expressing the experience of being within the landscape. The processes of nature were concerns shared with other artists working in St Ives. They gave impetus, for instance, to Terry Frost's abstractions of movement on water, such as Green, Black and White Movement, 1951, and Bryan Wynter's more cosmic works, such as Mars Ascends, 1956. Hepworth's Sea Form (Porthmeor) emerges from a similar focus on cyclical events. When she reproduced the sculpture in her Pictoral Autobiography it was placed opposite her acknowledgement of a shared endeavour in St Ives with Frost and Wynter, as well as Denis Mitchell and Patrick Heron; it was also juxtaposed with a photograph of Bernard Leach's hand throwing a pot. This indicates that the formal qualities of Sea Form (Porthmeor) may also be seen in a wider context of contemporary visual culture, especially within design in the late 1950s; comparisons may be drawn with the work of other studio potters, such as James Tower, who worked with asymmetric forms, or Hans Coper, who used heavily textured surfaces. Perhaps because of this contemporary style, Sea Form (Porthmeor) was very widely exhibited. A cast (6/7) was acquired by the British Council in 1961, shortly after it was included in the successful São Paolo Bienal display (1959) and subsequent South American tour. Other casts are in the Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington (2/7), Yale University Art Gallery (1/7), the Art Gallery of Ontario (3/7), and the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (7/7). [Cast (4/7) is in the collection of the Tate, London, and the remaining cast (5/7) is the present work].
Confrontation with the sea was a theme implied in Hepworth's contemporary Torso group and had a long pedigree in the history of painting back to Gustave Courbet and Caspar David Friedrich. However, Claire Doherty has specifically refuted these literal connections, writing of Sea Form (Porthmeor): 'the allusions to the landscape of St Ives are neither delicate or romantic, but reveal a fascination with the re-creation of a natural form in sculpture. The viewer is provoked to question: What relationships are initiated in the spaces between the solid form? What meanings are generated when a natural form is imitated by the mark of the chisel or cast in bronze?'.
Instead, asserting that the form encourages an exploration which 'is never prescribed, but variable, motivated and intrigued'. Doherty posited Hepworth's work as an example of a gendered 'sculpture féminine'. This was exemplified by such qualities as 'the play on notions of nature and the natural, the opening up of spaces between solid forms, the deconstruction of stability''.
In 1963 Hepworth acquired a studio flat overlooking Porthmeor beach, where she particularly enjoyed working on drawings and paintings.
This is the only cast in the edition of seven that remains in a private collection, and it has been with the single owner since 1960. The six other casts are in public ownership, and many were early purchases by these institutions (it was a great favourite) - for example The Hague bought theirs in 1960, The British Council and Yale in 1961 - and Sea Form (Porthmeor) has been included in many of the major Hepworth exhibitions and in group shows, reflecting its importance in her work. S.B.
The sculpture was made in the way established in Hepworth's studio by this time. An armature of expanded aluminium was built to take the plaster specifically for bronze casting. The organic quality of Sea Form (Porthmeor) shows how far Hepworth and her assistants were able to develop the process away from the original metal sheet still evident in Curved Form (Trevalgan). The malleability of the aluminium is seen in the turned-over edges and puncturing with holes. The function of the strong rising diagonal within the form is not clear; it seems likely to be a welding joint, indicating that the sculpture was cast in two parts.
The casting was underway at the Art Bronze Foundry, Fulham, in early 1959. The unusual thickness of the bronze - c. 6 mm (¼ in.) - may indicate that there were problems with the process. The base is rather thinner, and the two are held together by bolts through a central bronze bar [ ...]. It is possible that the patination of the bronze was carried out at the studio. It was treated so that it was almost black both inside and on the back, and then covered with energetic dappling in green and white. The effect is crusty and contrasts with the smoothness of the sculpture's edges. The original white plaster, which is visible in the photograph of the sculptor's upstairs studio in January 1959 was painted with a broken green, presumably as a preliminary to the patination. The plaster was shown at the St Ives Guildhall when the sculptor received the Freedom of the Borough in 1968 and is now one of several such preparatory pieces on display at the Barbara Hepworth Museum [St Ives].
In combination with the form and patination, the title may identify the sculpture as a response to Porthmeor Beach in St Ives. Although Hepworth's studio turns towards the harbour rather than this Atlantic coast, Porthmeor was the site of artists' studios, including those occupied by Ben Nicholson and Terry Frost. To Herbert Read the sculptor described the 'extraordinary feeling being posed above the changing calligraphy of tide & water movement, sand & wind movement & the pattern of men's & birds' feet'. It has been observed that the sculpture 'in part based on her observation of breaking waves, and the pattern left on the beach by waves and tides'. In his assessment, Michael Shepherd held back from a literal equation between the surf and the form of the sculpture, writing that with 'its lipped edges, its amoebic or cellular organic forms, and its white-plastered metal as if salted from long immersion in seawater, [it] seems to belong to the living world of the sea'. However, Hepworth herself appeared to condone the association: 'I had ... become bewitched by the Atlantic beach. The form I call Porthmeor is the ebb and flow of the Atlantic'.
In laying stress on tidal movement, Hepworth hinted at her wider view of sculpture expressing the experience of being within the landscape. The processes of nature were concerns shared with other artists working in St Ives. They gave impetus, for instance, to Terry Frost's abstractions of movement on water, such as Green, Black and White Movement, 1951, and Bryan Wynter's more cosmic works, such as Mars Ascends, 1956. Hepworth's Sea Form (Porthmeor) emerges from a similar focus on cyclical events. When she reproduced the sculpture in her Pictoral Autobiography it was placed opposite her acknowledgement of a shared endeavour in St Ives with Frost and Wynter, as well as Denis Mitchell and Patrick Heron; it was also juxtaposed with a photograph of Bernard Leach's hand throwing a pot. This indicates that the formal qualities of Sea Form (Porthmeor) may also be seen in a wider context of contemporary visual culture, especially within design in the late 1950s; comparisons may be drawn with the work of other studio potters, such as James Tower, who worked with asymmetric forms, or Hans Coper, who used heavily textured surfaces. Perhaps because of this contemporary style, Sea Form (Porthmeor) was very widely exhibited. A cast (6/7) was acquired by the British Council in 1961, shortly after it was included in the successful São Paolo Bienal display (1959) and subsequent South American tour. Other casts are in the Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington (2/7), Yale University Art Gallery (1/7), the Art Gallery of Ontario (3/7), and the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (7/7). [Cast (4/7) is in the collection of the Tate, London, and the remaining cast (5/7) is the present work].
Confrontation with the sea was a theme implied in Hepworth's contemporary Torso group and had a long pedigree in the history of painting back to Gustave Courbet and Caspar David Friedrich. However, Claire Doherty has specifically refuted these literal connections, writing of Sea Form (Porthmeor): 'the allusions to the landscape of St Ives are neither delicate or romantic, but reveal a fascination with the re-creation of a natural form in sculpture. The viewer is provoked to question: What relationships are initiated in the spaces between the solid form? What meanings are generated when a natural form is imitated by the mark of the chisel or cast in bronze?'.
Instead, asserting that the form encourages an exploration which 'is never prescribed, but variable, motivated and intrigued'. Doherty posited Hepworth's work as an example of a gendered 'sculpture féminine'. This was exemplified by such qualities as 'the play on notions of nature and the natural, the opening up of spaces between solid forms, the deconstruction of stability''.
In 1963 Hepworth acquired a studio flat overlooking Porthmeor beach, where she particularly enjoyed working on drawings and paintings.
This is the only cast in the edition of seven that remains in a private collection, and it has been with the single owner since 1960. The six other casts are in public ownership, and many were early purchases by these institutions (it was a great favourite) - for example The Hague bought theirs in 1960, The British Council and Yale in 1961 - and Sea Form (Porthmeor) has been included in many of the major Hepworth exhibitions and in group shows, reflecting its importance in her work. S.B.