Author Description

From the Blurb: The two great pioneer figures of modern British sculpture are Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Though fellow students in their early days and sharing an interest in direct carving and 'truth to materials', their work soon developed in quite different directions. Barbara Hepworth moved towards complete abstraction and, with her second husband Ben Nicholson, came to play a major role in the international abstract movement. Her early abstract carvings, of extreme simplicity and purity, formed the starting-point for her more complex later works in which the forms were hollowed out or pierced with holes: their smooth surfaces make a great appeal to the sense of touch, while their clarity of form radiates a calm perfection. Since the outbreak of war in 1939 she has lived at St. Ives in Cornwall and has been influenced by the Cornish light and coastline in fact, a number of her post-war works embody her sensations of being in a landscape. This exhibition, which was selected in collaboration with the artist, covers her entire development and illustrates her use of a wide range of materials of different colours and textures; it includes a number of sculptures with strings or coloured surfaces, as well as some of her recent bronzes and her abstract and figurative drawings. The catalogue introduction is by Ronald Alley, the Keeper of the Tate Gallery's Modern Collection.