Dame Barbara Hepworth

Galerie Gimpel & Hanover, Zurich
Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York (acquired from the above in 1964)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Private Belgian Collection

London, John Lewis Partnership, Oxford Street, Barbara Hepworth: Sculptures and Drawings, April 1963 (another cast);
Zürich, Gimpel Hanover Galerie, Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture and Drawings, November 1963-January 1964 (another cast);
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture and Drawings, June 1964 (another cast); 
New York, IBM Gallery, 5 British Sculptors (work and talk), March-April 1965 (another cast);
London, Tate Gallery, Barbara Hepworth, April-May 1968 (another cast);
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth 1903-75, October-November 1975 (another cast);
New York, Gimpel and Weitzenhoffer, Hepworth, March-April 1977 (another cast);
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, October-November 1972 (another cast); 
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, 50 Sculptures from 1935 to 1970, October-November 1975 (another cast); 
Liverpool, Tate Gallery, Barbara Hepworth: A Retrospective, September-December 1994, no.66, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p.146.

A.M. Hammacher, Barbara Hepworth, Thames and Hudson, London, 1968, illustrated p.161;
Alan Bowness, The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth, 1960-69, London, 1971, no. 313;
David Fraser Jenkins, Barbara Hepworth: A Guide to the Tate Gallery Collection at London and St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Gallery Publishing, London 1982, p.17, illustrated p.35;
Matthew Gale, Barbara Hepworth: Works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum in St Ives, Tate Publishing, London 2001;
Tate Gallery Acquisitions 1980-2, 1984, pp120-1, illustrated. 

The bronze has been beautifully worked by the artist so that the surface is uneven. The sculpture appears to be in good overall condition. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Conceived in 1962 and made in an edition of 9, Square Forms is relatively unusual in that it is formed from constructed and riveted sections of bronze rather than being cast, thus giving each piece from the edition subtle variations in their surface. This was as a result of the individual square sections being sawn from a bronze unit by Breon O'Casey, one of Hepworth's studio assistants during that period.

Whilst organic forms were still very much in evidence at this time, Hepworth had been slowly reintroducing geometric forms into her work and at least two large-scale sculptures developed the theme seen here, Square Forms with Circles (BH326) and Squares with Two Circles (BH347), both of 1963. Whilst having a clear link with her more geometric sculptures of the 1930s, the repeating unitary forms may suggest that Hepworth was reacting to the constructivist work being produced by the circle of artists around Kenneth and Mary Martin and Anthony Hill, with whom Hepworth had occasionally exhibited in the mid 1950s.