A major loan exhibition of oils, watercolours
and drawings by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), one of the leading
figures in 20th century British art, will be held at Hazlitt
Holland-Hibbert, 38 Bury Street, St James’s, London SW1 from 12 October – 18
November.
This will be the first major show
devoted entirely to the artist’s painting and drawing for
over 50 years. All the works are on loan from private or public
collections, including Hepworth’s Self Portrait from the
National Portrait Gallery and a group of examples from the Hepworth
Estate. Many will be exhibited publicly for the first time.
Co-curated by the artist’s
grand-daughter, Sophie Bowness and James Holland-Hibbert, the works in the exhibition all date from the 1940s and
bring together the full range and breadth of Hepworth’s draughtsmanship.
The exhibition is divided into three separate themes – abstract
studies, figure drawings and the hospital operations series.
Best known as a sculptor, Hepworth
produced a series of oils and drawings that reveal an intuitive
and sympathetic feel for a medium that the artist is not so often
associated with. Their importance lies in the context in which
they were produced and the way in which a sculptor uses drawing
and painting as a means of generating sculptural ideas. The abstract
studies, for example, reveal Hepworth’s
exploration of ideas about space and rhythm, usually associated
with constructivism, that became important not only to her carving
after the war but also the whole language of sculpture.
Perhaps the most remarkable series
of drawings in the exhibition are the figure studies and, in particular,
surgeons at work in the Exeter orthopaedic hospital which reveal
what the artist herself described as an ‘extraordinary beauty
of purpose and co-ordination between human beings all dedicated
to the saving of human life’. An exceptional work
from this series will be loaned by The Royal Albert Memorial
Museum in Exeter as well as the only large-scale oil, which will
be loaned from the Collection of the Royal College of Surgeons.
This exhibition follows on from the recent highly
successful loan exhibitions at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert of Henry Moore:
Drawings from the Henry Moore Foundation and Augustus John: Master
Works from Private Collections.
Exhibition hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 5.30pm.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated colour
catalogue. Admission is free.
For press information or jpeg illustrations please
contact Iona Sale, IONA PR, on 01451 832 268, 07721 030 825 or iona@ionapr.com
or James Holland-Hibbert on 020 7839 7600 or jhh@hh-h.com
