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Lot Essay
Dr. Sophie Bowness will include this work in her forthcoming revised Hepworth catalogue raisonné under the catalogue number BH 478.
Maquette for Divided Circle relates to Two Forms (Divided Circle), 1969 (BH 477), a large-scale bronze measuring 90 inches high, one of which stands in the artist's garden at her St Ives studio. In the 1960s Hepworth created several large-scale works which gave her a sense of "tremendous liberation. I at last had space and money to work on a much bigger scale. I had felt inhibited for a very long time over the scale on which I could work... It's so natural to work large--it fits one's body" (quoted in M. Gale and C. Stephens, Barbara Hepworth Works in the Tate Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives, London, 1999, p. 252).
There is a sense of tension between the two forms in this work, both in the large and small formats; the space between them, in the larger work, doesn't allow enough space for the viewer to walk through, and the forms seem to be delicately balanced at angles to each other. Chris Stephens further explores this: "Two Forms (Divided Circle) is an unexpectedly asymmetrical work. Its slightly awkward quality is enhanced by the disposition of the individual elements: set at an angle to each other and stepped one slightly behind the other. Unlike many of Hepworth's sculptures, with Two Forms (Divided Circle) it is not possible to identify a single frontal face as both display the narrow and wider ends of the two openings. One of the semi-circular sections is pierced by a cylindrical hole which, on one side, is set with a semi-circular concavity. In the neighboring form, the hole spirals from a spiral to an oval" (ibid.).
Maquette for Divided Circle relates to Two Forms (Divided Circle), 1969 (BH 477), a large-scale bronze measuring 90 inches high, one of which stands in the artist's garden at her St Ives studio. In the 1960s Hepworth created several large-scale works which gave her a sense of "tremendous liberation. I at last had space and money to work on a much bigger scale. I had felt inhibited for a very long time over the scale on which I could work... It's so natural to work large--it fits one's body" (quoted in M. Gale and C. Stephens, Barbara Hepworth Works in the Tate Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives, London, 1999, p. 252).
There is a sense of tension between the two forms in this work, both in the large and small formats; the space between them, in the larger work, doesn't allow enough space for the viewer to walk through, and the forms seem to be delicately balanced at angles to each other. Chris Stephens further explores this: "Two Forms (Divided Circle) is an unexpectedly asymmetrical work. Its slightly awkward quality is enhanced by the disposition of the individual elements: set at an angle to each other and stepped one slightly behind the other. Unlike many of Hepworth's sculptures, with Two Forms (Divided Circle) it is not possible to identify a single frontal face as both display the narrow and wider ends of the two openings. One of the semi-circular sections is pierced by a cylindrical hole which, on one side, is set with a semi-circular concavity. In the neighboring form, the hole spirals from a spiral to an oval" (ibid.).