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拍品專文
Dr. Sophie Bowness will include this work in her forthcoming revised Hepworth catalogue raisonné under the catalogue number BH 299.
Having dedicated the first two decades of her career to "direct carving" in stone and wood, Hepworth turned to bronze relatively late. She began to have works cast in bronze during the late 1950s and quickly discovered that the versatility and strength of this medium considerably broadened both the range and scale of her work. Taking inspiration from her longtime friend Henry Moore, Hepworth also adopted bronze as a means to facilitate the dispersal of her work around the world. The present work demonstrates Hepworth's masterful ability to achieve equilibrium between the demands of this new material and its expressive possibilities. Commenting on her recent production in 1962, the artist stated: "Certain forms, I find, re-occur during one's lifetime and I have found some considerable pleasure in reinterpreting forms originally carved, and which in bronze, by greater attenuation, can give a new aspect to certain themes" (quoted in Barbara Hepworth, exh. cat., IVAM, Valencia, 2004, p. 137).
Curved Form (Bryher) belongs formally to Hepworth's Single Form series, which she first approached in the 1930s and developed throughout her career. This group of works-first in wood, and marble and later in bronze-has become enmeshed with the story of the much-respected second secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, and his relationship with Hepworth. The sculptor found in him a kindred spirit, sharing political views on the responsibility of the artist in the community and more broadly the individual within society. Similarly, Hammarskjöld was a great admirer of Hepworth's work and bought the version of Single Form which Hepworth carved out of sandalwood, 1937-38 (Bowness, no. 103), at the artist's 1956-1957 exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York.
Shortly after Hammarskjöld's death in 1961, the United Nations decided to commission a sculpture in his memory, to be sited at the United Nations Plaza in New York. They asked Hepworth to undertake the commission. During his lifetime, Hammarskjöld perceived the artistic environment of the United Nations as part of the spiritual enrichment of those using the building, and had wanted Hepworth to do a scheme for the new United Nations building in New York. Thus, when recalling the process of the commission, Hepworth stresses that it began with the larger version of the present work, Curved Form (Bryher II).
Curved Form (Bryher) is pierced with a hole, an essential element in Hepworth's sculpture from 1932 onwards. Hepworth used holes as a device for creating abstract form and space, and to unite the front and the back of the work. In her autobiography, Hepworth remembers the sensation of moving physically over the landscape as she drove across West Riding with her father in his car, particularly "through hollows feeling, touching, seeing." "The sensation has never left me," Hepworth claims, and as we witness the landscape pouring through the central hollow of Curved Form (Bryher), this is evident (B. Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, A Pictorial Autobiography, Bath, 1970, p. 9). Hepworth consistently pointed to the significance that landscape and its interaction with human beings had for her as a sculptor, claiming her works "were experiences of people the movement of people in and out is always a part of them" (quoted in A. Bowness, op. cit., p. 12). By using bronze, Hepworth was able to make forms that were far more open and fluid than anything she had ever done in wood or stone.
Using strings allowed Hepworth to introduce dynamic shapes into her work, and to explore the relationship of the space between the forms. Hepworth had begun this practice in 1939 and, whilst it was certainly influenced by Moore's strung works of the late 1930s, the work of Naum Gabo was more significant. Gabo and Hepworth were particularly close during the 1930s and 1940s, and like Gabo's use of nylon thread, Hepworth's use of strings can be related to her interest in mathematical models. This interest was shared with many artists during the 1930s, whose use of them for artistic purposes reflected a desire for a modernist synthesis of science and art. However, as time went on, Hepworth's use of strings moved away from purely modernist principles and became better associated with her growing consciousness of the landscape: "The strings were the tension I felt between myself and the sea, the wind or the hills," she claimed (quoted in H. Read, Barbara Hepworth: Carvings and Drawings, London, 1952).
The island of Bryher is the smallest of the five inhabited islands of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula, and thus the subtitle evokes a local place for Hepworth. It puts the present work with a whole sequence of Hepworth's landscape sculptures which have subtitles like Oval Form (Trezion), 1961-3 (Bowness, no. 304), Sea Form (Atlantic), 1964 (Bowness, no. 362) and Rock Form (Porthcurno), 1964 (Bowness, no. 363). Hepworth always added the titles later, claiming, "when I've made something, I think: where did I get that idea from? And then I remember." About the present work, Hepworth explains "Bryher is being in a boat, and sailing round Bryher, and the water, the island, the movement of course. If I experience something bodily like that, I often get an idea for a sculpture. Bryher is a relationship between the sea and the land" (quoted in A. Bowness, op. cit., p. 12).
Having dedicated the first two decades of her career to "direct carving" in stone and wood, Hepworth turned to bronze relatively late. She began to have works cast in bronze during the late 1950s and quickly discovered that the versatility and strength of this medium considerably broadened both the range and scale of her work. Taking inspiration from her longtime friend Henry Moore, Hepworth also adopted bronze as a means to facilitate the dispersal of her work around the world. The present work demonstrates Hepworth's masterful ability to achieve equilibrium between the demands of this new material and its expressive possibilities. Commenting on her recent production in 1962, the artist stated: "Certain forms, I find, re-occur during one's lifetime and I have found some considerable pleasure in reinterpreting forms originally carved, and which in bronze, by greater attenuation, can give a new aspect to certain themes" (quoted in Barbara Hepworth, exh. cat., IVAM, Valencia, 2004, p. 137).
Curved Form (Bryher) belongs formally to Hepworth's Single Form series, which she first approached in the 1930s and developed throughout her career. This group of works-first in wood, and marble and later in bronze-has become enmeshed with the story of the much-respected second secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, and his relationship with Hepworth. The sculptor found in him a kindred spirit, sharing political views on the responsibility of the artist in the community and more broadly the individual within society. Similarly, Hammarskjöld was a great admirer of Hepworth's work and bought the version of Single Form which Hepworth carved out of sandalwood, 1937-38 (Bowness, no. 103), at the artist's 1956-1957 exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York.
Shortly after Hammarskjöld's death in 1961, the United Nations decided to commission a sculpture in his memory, to be sited at the United Nations Plaza in New York. They asked Hepworth to undertake the commission. During his lifetime, Hammarskjöld perceived the artistic environment of the United Nations as part of the spiritual enrichment of those using the building, and had wanted Hepworth to do a scheme for the new United Nations building in New York. Thus, when recalling the process of the commission, Hepworth stresses that it began with the larger version of the present work, Curved Form (Bryher II).
Curved Form (Bryher) is pierced with a hole, an essential element in Hepworth's sculpture from 1932 onwards. Hepworth used holes as a device for creating abstract form and space, and to unite the front and the back of the work. In her autobiography, Hepworth remembers the sensation of moving physically over the landscape as she drove across West Riding with her father in his car, particularly "through hollows feeling, touching, seeing." "The sensation has never left me," Hepworth claims, and as we witness the landscape pouring through the central hollow of Curved Form (Bryher), this is evident (B. Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, A Pictorial Autobiography, Bath, 1970, p. 9). Hepworth consistently pointed to the significance that landscape and its interaction with human beings had for her as a sculptor, claiming her works "were experiences of people the movement of people in and out is always a part of them" (quoted in A. Bowness, op. cit., p. 12). By using bronze, Hepworth was able to make forms that were far more open and fluid than anything she had ever done in wood or stone.
Using strings allowed Hepworth to introduce dynamic shapes into her work, and to explore the relationship of the space between the forms. Hepworth had begun this practice in 1939 and, whilst it was certainly influenced by Moore's strung works of the late 1930s, the work of Naum Gabo was more significant. Gabo and Hepworth were particularly close during the 1930s and 1940s, and like Gabo's use of nylon thread, Hepworth's use of strings can be related to her interest in mathematical models. This interest was shared with many artists during the 1930s, whose use of them for artistic purposes reflected a desire for a modernist synthesis of science and art. However, as time went on, Hepworth's use of strings moved away from purely modernist principles and became better associated with her growing consciousness of the landscape: "The strings were the tension I felt between myself and the sea, the wind or the hills," she claimed (quoted in H. Read, Barbara Hepworth: Carvings and Drawings, London, 1952).
The island of Bryher is the smallest of the five inhabited islands of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula, and thus the subtitle evokes a local place for Hepworth. It puts the present work with a whole sequence of Hepworth's landscape sculptures which have subtitles like Oval Form (Trezion), 1961-3 (Bowness, no. 304), Sea Form (Atlantic), 1964 (Bowness, no. 362) and Rock Form (Porthcurno), 1964 (Bowness, no. 363). Hepworth always added the titles later, claiming, "when I've made something, I think: where did I get that idea from? And then I remember." About the present work, Hepworth explains "Bryher is being in a boat, and sailing round Bryher, and the water, the island, the movement of course. If I experience something bodily like that, I often get an idea for a sculpture. Bryher is a relationship between the sea and the land" (quoted in A. Bowness, op. cit., p. 12).