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Lot Essay
Hepworth related Six Forms (2 x 3) to a specific experience as noted in discussion with Edwin Mullins, 'the angles at which the piece are set, and the patterning on the bronze itself, were related to the experience of a boat-trip in the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall, and in particular the swirling motion of going round and round in the boat' (see E. Mullins, exhibition catalogue, Barbara Hepworth, Hakone, 1970).
Matthew Gale and Chris Stephens discuss this work, 'The six, apparently randomly shaped, elements of this work are actually fragments of a larger piece. The varying thicknesses and curvatures demonstrate that they can be re-arranged and reoriented to make a homogenous sculpture similar, but not identical, to the series of monolithic sculptures that culminated in [the fully scaled-up 21 feet high memorial sculpture to Dag Hammarskjöld] Single Form 1961-64 for the United Nations in New York ... The constituent parts of Six Forms (2 x 3) could have originated from the fragmentation of such a model, and the discrepancies between it and Hammarskjöld memorial might result from practical decisions made during the scaling-up and production process. Such an imaginative re-working of an earlier piece would be consistent with Hepworth's economy of production and may be compared to the incorporation of earlier carvings in a bronze such as Hollow Form with Inner Form of the same year. That the object resulting from the arrangement of Six Forms (2 x 3) is the closest to Single Form (September), the genesis of the memorial, would also support the notion that it originated at an early stage in the project' (see M. Gale and C. Stephens, Works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum St Ives, London, 1999, pp. 246, 248).
Another bronze (cast 7/9) of Six Forms (2 x 3) is displayed in the artist's garden, Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives. The plaster, mounted on wooden base, is in the collection of The Hepworth, Wakefield.
Matthew Gale and Chris Stephens discuss this work, 'The six, apparently randomly shaped, elements of this work are actually fragments of a larger piece. The varying thicknesses and curvatures demonstrate that they can be re-arranged and reoriented to make a homogenous sculpture similar, but not identical, to the series of monolithic sculptures that culminated in [the fully scaled-up 21 feet high memorial sculpture to Dag Hammarskjöld] Single Form 1961-64 for the United Nations in New York ... The constituent parts of Six Forms (2 x 3) could have originated from the fragmentation of such a model, and the discrepancies between it and Hammarskjöld memorial might result from practical decisions made during the scaling-up and production process. Such an imaginative re-working of an earlier piece would be consistent with Hepworth's economy of production and may be compared to the incorporation of earlier carvings in a bronze such as Hollow Form with Inner Form of the same year. That the object resulting from the arrangement of Six Forms (2 x 3) is the closest to Single Form (September), the genesis of the memorial, would also support the notion that it originated at an early stage in the project' (see M. Gale and C. Stephens, Works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum St Ives, London, 1999, pp. 246, 248).
Another bronze (cast 7/9) of Six Forms (2 x 3) is displayed in the artist's garden, Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives. The plaster, mounted on wooden base, is in the collection of The Hepworth, Wakefield.