Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth DBEwas an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. She was one of the few female artists to achieve international prominence. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the Second World War...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth10 January 1903
thinking artist community
The naturalness of life... the sense of community is, I think, a very important factor in an artist's life.
succeed failing united-nations
The United Nations is our conscience. If it succeeds it is our success. If it fails it is our failure.
block sheep sculpture
I love my blocks of marble, always piling up in the yard like a flock of sheep.
art body creation
Body experience... is the centre of creation.
principles sculpture passionate
The sculptor must search with passionate intensity for the underlying principle of the organisation of mass and tension - the meaning of gesture and the structure of rhythm.
yield details tiny
One must be entirely sensitive to the structure of the material that one is handling. One must yield to it in tiny details of execution, perhaps the handling of the surface or grain, and one must master it as a whole.
form hollow thrust
I am the form and I am the hollow, the thrust and the contour
art past imitation
My works are an imitation of my own past and present.
form impulse clear
I must always have a clear image of the form of a work before I begin. Otherwise there is no impulse to create.
order space purpose
I felt the most intense pleasure in piercing the stone in order to make an abstract form and space; quite a different sensation from that of doing it for the purpose of realism.
thinking hands left-hand
My left hand is my thinking hand (image), my right hand my doing hand (sequence).
sight land ideas
Whenever I am embraced by land and seascape I draw ideas for new sculptures; new forms to touch and walk around, new people to embrace, with an exactitude of form that those without sight can hold and realize... ...It is essentially practical and passionate.
midnight found
I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not.
past emotional creative
[My works are] an imitation of my own past and present and of my own creative vitality as I experience them in one particular instant of my emotional and imaginative life. . .