During World War II Barbara Hepworth moved from London to the small fisherman's town of St Ives in Cornwall. At the time she could not have anticipated that she would stay in the town for the rest of her life or how incredibly influential on an international level St Ives would grow to become. Hepworth herself was very influential amongst artists and sculptors across America and Europe. Among the many painters that came to visit St Ives as a result of Hepworth's presence there was Rothko, Juan Griss etc. Henry Moore was took a lot of influence from Barbara Hepworth's work and he is said to have taken the idea of making a hole purposefully through his sculpture from Barbara who did so first.
Seeing Barbra Hepworth's work in context of her home and the surrounding countryside that inspired her sculpture adds an insight into how she responded she responded to the world around her. A lot of Hepworth's work was inspired by her reaction and feeling when in the landscape rather than the landscape itself.
Hepworth's Bronze cast sculptures were made using a metal frame and plaster to create a geometric and textured shape which could then be cast. Her sculptures surfaces are purposefully patterned with scratches, dents and grooves. Hepworth encouraged the touching of her work as she believed that feeling art is as important as seeing it.
Hepworth is known as being one of the few female sculptors to gain 'international prominence' and for being influential in the modernism movement. Her work has left a very powerful impression with me.
Art and Life (18 August 1959)
"Art at the moment is thrilling. The work of the artist today springs from innate impulses towards life, towards growth - impulses whose rhythms and structures have to do with the power and insistence of life. [...] In the past, when sculpture was based on the human figure, we knew this structure well. But today we are concerned with structures in an infinitely wider sense, in a universal sense. Our thoughts can either lead us to life and continuity or [...] the way to annihilation. That is why it is so important that we find our complete sense of continuity backwards and forwards in this new world of forms and values. I see the present development in art as something opposed to any materialistic, anti-human or mechanistic direction of mind."source
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