Dame Barbara Hepworth

Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, whence purchased by Mrs Seligman, 1964

London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, June 1964, no.60;
London, Tate Gallery, Barbara Hepworth, April-May 1968, no.216.

Alan Bowness, Barbara Hepworth: Drawings from a Sculptor's Landscape, London, 1966, pl.67;
Exhibition catalogue, Barbara Hepworth, London, Tate Gallery, 1968, p.63, no.216;
Abraham Hammacher, Barbara Hepworth, 1968, pl.149.

The board with the orange ground has been mounted by the artist onto another board. Both boards are in good overall condition. A small spot of dirt appears to have accrued on the bottom edge of the larger board. The paint surface is in good overall condition. There is no sign of retouching under ultra-violet light. Held behind glass in a simple wooden box frame.
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Hepworth's introduction of strong colours into her drawings and paintings was very much a feature of the works from the late 1950s onwards. Bringing the colour forward from being a light wash that tinted the ground of the image to one which acts as an independent element within the image seems to happen concurrently with the simplification of her drawing, the forms becoming clearer whilst retaining their character and monumentality. In this the relation between the drawings and the sculpture is never lost, but although the drawings of this period are often very close to three-dimensional work (here one might compare the forms to the alabaster carving Three Forms in Echelon of 1963 (sold Sotheby's London, 9 February 2005, lot 481), the use of colour gives them a marked individuality and visual appeal.