Dame barbara hepworth biography of martin

Developing Personal Style

In 1931 Hepworth met the sculptor Ben Nicholson, who she later married (amicably divorcing Skeaping).

The same year she made an abstract sculpture pierced with a hole.

Dame barbara hepworth biography of martin

Its form impressed Henry Moore so much that the following year he started carving holes in his works. In 1932 she exhibited with Nicholson, and although their styles were different, they were both moving towards abstraction. Hepworth started experimenting with collage, prints and photograms, but it was the pioneering piercing of her block sculptures that would go on to epitomize her works.

Examples include: Seated Figure (1932); Ball, Plane and Hole (1936), Oval Sculpture (No. 2, 1943); Pelagos (1946) and Corinthos (1954-5); all in the Tate Gallery, London.

Note About Sculpture Appreciation
To learn how to evaluate modernist sculptors like Barbara Hepworth, see: How to Appreciate Modern Sculpture.

For earlier works, please see: How