Barbara Hepworth: The Plasters: The Gift to Wakefield

by David Chipperfield (Contribution by), Frances Guy (Contribution by), Jackie Heuman (Contribution by), Tessa Jackson (Contribution by), Simon Wallis (Contribution by)

Overview

Celebrating the generous gift of Barbara Hepworth’s plasters to The Hepworth Wakefield by the Hepworth Estate, this groundbreaking publication, amended to bring the story up-to-date, combines a fully illustrated catalogue of the sculptor’s surviving prototypes in plaster, and occasionally aluminium, with a detailed analysis of her working methods and a comprehensive history of her work in bronze. In addition, insights into the building which is home to the collection are provided through essays exploring the history of The Hepworth and, in a contribution by David Chipperfield, the design of the museum by his architectural practice. A fascinating account of the sculptor’s connections with Wakefield Art Gallery also features.

The Hepworth’s collection of over forty unique, unknown sculptures are the surviving working models from which editions of bronzes were cast. They range in size from works that can be held in the hand to monumental sculptures, including the Winged Figure for John Lewis’s Oxford Street headquarters. The majority are original plasters on which the artist worked with her own hands and to scale.

Providing a unique insight into Hepworth’s working processes, on which little has been written, Barbara Hepworth: The Plasters enhances appreciation of her work as a whole. Drawing extensively on archival records and photographs, this publication is an important source for information about a significant collection of work, the gallery which houses it and Hepworth in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848220850
Publisher:	Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Publication date:	05/29/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

CA

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface, Simon Wallis; Coming Home: Barbara Hepworth and the Wakefield Art Gallery Collection, Frances Guy; Developing The Hepworth Wakefield to Start of Construction, 1996 to 2007, Gordon Watson; The Hepworth Wakefield, David Chipperfield; Barbara Hepworth's Studio Practice: Plaster for Bronze, Sophie Bowness; Catalogue of the Plasters and other Prototypes in the Hepworth Gift, Sophie Bowness, with information on technique and conservation by Jackie Heuman and Tessa Jackson; The Conservation of the Gift, with a Glossary of Technical Terms, Jackie Heuman; Chronology; Select Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"The donation of Barbara Hepworth's plasters to The Hepworth Wakefield establishes one of the landmark art collections in Britain. It was in plaster that Hepworth experimented most as she made the transition from stone and wood to bronze, testing the potential of her new material as she went. In her perceptive text Sophie Bowness describes clearly the different means by which this increasingly important artist made her plaster works, and why." —Dr Chris Stephens, Curator of Modern British Art and Head of Displays, Tate Britain


"The Hepworth Wakefield is the result of a unique combination of two English spatial intellects. Barbara Hepworth's work is characterised by an extreme refinement of form, sensibility of material and tenacity of purpose. The building that David Chipperfield has designed to house her work combines tough formal precision with a playful organicism that exactly complements her indomitable spirit as a pioneering woman sculptor. This gallery in Wakefield will become a place of pilgrimage for lovers of sculpture and a place of inspiration for all." —Antony Gormley, sculptor


"Sophie Bowness' s magnificent catalogue richly illustrates the works and illuminates their histories through archival photographs demonstrating everything from the varied tools used by Hepworth to the logistical problems of transporting the monumental pieces through the narrow streets of St Ives, where she worked from 1949 until 1975. Bowness's essay gives much-needed attention to Hepworth's studio practice, as well as to her relations with foundries, and details the revolutions of her public commissions. It fully demonstrates what a valuable gift the Hepworth Wakefield is to her home town." —Peter Maber, Lecturer, English, New College of the Humanities

From the Publisher