Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life Exhibition.

 by Sam Lewis

The Hepworth Wakefield is a museum in Yorkshire dedicated to displaying the art of Barbara Hepworth, one of the most influential and prominent British sculptors of the 20th century. To commemorate the museum’s 10th anniversary the gallery is hosting a new exhibition this summer, which will be the largest collection of Hepworth’s work since 1975.

The exhibition will feature many of Hepworth's most iconic and recognised pieces, from her vast abstract carvings that launched her career in the 1930s to her smaller bronze sculptures from the 70s, which will all be displayed through an in-depth timeline of her life that explores her entire career in great detail. Starting from her early career amidst the Second World War in the 1930s and 40s, the exhibition will explore how the events of the 20th century impacted her art all the way up to the end of her career. Other influences from Hepworth’s wide array of inspiration will also be displayed, such as Picasso and the Cubist movement, and her inspiration from characteristics of the Yorkshire landscape itself.

Private collections that have not been displayed since the 70s will feature alongside loans from national public collections not only in the gallery’s expansive open rooms but also in its gardens, meaning that the pieces can be displayed how they were originally intended to be as well as being in a covid secure environment, as this is the first exhibition that the museum has hosted since lockdown. What is most exciting about the exhibition, however, are the previously unseen paintings and drawings that show the unique methods and techniques behind her work. Using recent studies from the Hepworth Research Network, the exhibition will shed light into the technical aspects of the artist’s creative process, giving a fresh insight on her work with bronze, aluminium and lead crystal.

Finally, the exhibition will look to present the legacy of Hepworth, showing a wide array of artists who had taken inspiration from her art, as well as work from her peers such as Bridget Riley and Henry Moore. Within the exhibition are also the works of Tacita Dean and Veronica Ryan, two contemporary artists who have been commissioned to create new works which will explore themes and ideas that interested Hepworth and that continue to resonate with their own work. These themes and ideas will also be further explored in a new documentary about Hepworth’s life that will coincide with the exhibition, alongside an intricate biography of her life by Eleanor Clayton. In Clayton’s words: ‘Barbara Hepworth is one of the most important artists of the 20th century, with a unique artistic vision that demands to be looked at in-depth.’ This is something I absolutely agree with, having studied Barbara Hepworth for my art projects, I am personally looking forward to visiting the exhibition in summer.