Lot 649 
(incl. surcharge)
Pierced Round Form. 1959/60.
Because she was so close to Henry Moore - Hepworth and Moore were even both natives of Yorkshire - whose monumental sculpture was acclaimed early in his career, it was difficult for Hepworth to launch her own style. Unusually for a woman artist, she developed a highly reductive formal language in her sculpture that eschewed all narrative par erga. Hepworth worked with the material as such, returning its essential significance to it through design. It is in fact the beauty of the material which distinguishes her works. The holes drilled into and through her sculptures can be seen as virtually the only dynamic element Hepworth has imposed on the material once formed. Thus the artist has achieved a reduction of mass without violating its integrity. Brancusi, Arp and Naum Gabo, who were all friends of Hepworth’s, may be said to have inspired her, but did not contribute crucial impetus to the urgency of her handling of form. Hepworth, who was married to Ben Nicholson for many years and influenced his painting as he did her approach to sculpture, remains a solitary figure, both as a woman and a sculptor, in the consistently powerful expressiveness of her work.
The artist died during a fire in her studio in St. Ives in Cornwall on May 20, 1975. [KD]
Bronze probably treated with zapon, the protective lacquer partially rubbed, there with oxidation stains. Slight oxidation with verdigris in the opening.
Bronze, polished. On wooden base.
With the number 4/10. 14,5 : 17,2 cm (5,7 : 6,7 in). Barbara Hepworth was born in Wakefield, England on 10 January 1903 with the full name Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth. Hepworth first went to Leeds to study art. There she met Henry Moore. Then she went to the Royal College of Art in London to become a sculptor. She participated in the documenta exhibition in Kassel in 1955 and 1959.
EXPERTISE: We are grateful to Dr. Sophie Bowness, Hepworth Estate, London, for her help in cataloguing this lot. The work is recorded under the no. BH 272 and will be included in the forthcoming revised version of the catalogue raisonné
PROVENIENZ: Galerie Wilhelm Großhennig, Düsseldorf.
Private collection South Germany.
(incl. surcharge)
Headquarters
Joseph-Wild-Str. 18
81829 Munich
Phone: +49 89 55 244-0
Fax: +49 89 55 244-177
info@kettererkunst.de
Louisa von Saucken / Christoph Calaminus
Holstenwall 5
20355 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 37 49 61-0
Fax: +49 40 37 49 61-66
infohamburg@kettererkunst.de
Dr. Simone Wiechers / Nane Schlage
Fasanenstr. 70
10719 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 88 67 53-63
Fax: +49 30 88 67 56-43
infoberlin@kettererkunst.de
Cordula Lichtenberg
Gertrudenstraße 24-28
50667 Cologne
Phone: +49 221 510 908-15
infokoeln@kettererkunst.de
Hessen
Rhineland-Palatinate
Miriam Heß
Phone: +49 62 21 58 80-038
Fax: +49 62 21 58 80-595
infoheidelberg@kettererkunst.de
We will inform you in time.