Figure III

Details

DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH (1903-1975)
Figure III
signed and dated 'HEPWORTH 25' (on the side of the base)
polished bronze, unique
18 in. (45.8 cm.) high
Conceived in clay circa 1922-1923 and cast in bronze in 1925.
This work is recorded as ex cat G.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001.

Literature

J. Wood (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Shine: Sculpture and Surface in the 1920s and 1930s, Leeds, City Art Gallery, 2002, pp. 17-18, exhibition not numbered, illustrated.

Exhibited

Leeds, City Art Gallery, Shine: Sculpture and Surface in the 1920s and 1930s, February - May 2002, exhibition not numbered.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Alice Murray Associate Director, Specialist

amurray@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2423

Lot Essay

A sculpture from the beginning of the artist’s career, the present work was conceived in the early 1920s while Hepworth was studying at the Royal College of Art in London. By 1925, when it was cast in bronze, she had travelled to Italy on scholarship, and had been recognised as runner up in the prestigious Prix de Rome. She met up with the prize winner, John Skeaping, and he became her future husband in Italy that year. His early influence on Barbara is visible in this rare, figurative sculpture. Unusually for Hepworth, it also demonstrates the spirit of the Art Deco movement, in its strikingly modern representation of a standing nude.

More from Modern British and Irish Art Day Sale

View All