20 Quotes by Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth was a prominent British sculptor and one of the leading figures in the modernist art movement. Born in 1903 in England, Hepworth's artistic career spanned several decades, and her works are celebrated for their organic forms and exploration of space and balance.
Hepworth was deeply inspired by the natural world and often incorporated themes of landscape and the human form into her sculptures. She experimented with different materials, including stone, wood, and bronze, creating pieces that are characterized by their smooth, flowing lines and the harmonious relationship between positive and negative space.
Hepworth's sculptures, often abstract in nature, invite viewers to engage with them from multiple perspectives, encouraging a sense of contemplation and connection. Her contributions to the art world were recognized with numerous awards and honors, and her works can be found in galleries and public spaces around the world. Barbara Hepworth's legacy as a pioneering sculptor continues to inspire artists and art enthusiasts, reminding us of the power of art to evoke emotions, challenge perceptions, and capture the beauty of the natural world.
Barbara Hepworth Quotes
I rarely draw what I see. I draw what I feel in my body.
My left hand is my thinking hand. The right is only a motor hand. This holds the hammer. The left hand, the thinking hand, must be relaxed, sensitive. The rhythms of thought pass through the fingers and grip of this hand into the stone.
It is easy now to communicate with people through abstraction, and particularly so in sculpture. Since the whole body reacts to its presence, people become themselves a living part of the whole.
I have gained very great inspiration from the Cornish land- and seascape, the horizontal line of the sea and the quality of light and colour which reminds me of the Mediterranean light and colour which so excites one's sense of form; and first and last there is the human figure which in the country becomes a free and moving part of a greater whole. This relationship between figure and landscape is vitally important to me. I cannot feel it in a city.
All my early memories are of forms and shapes and textures. Moving through and over the West Riding landscape with my father in his car, the hills were sculptures; the roads defined the form. Above all, there was the sensation of moving physically over the contours of fullnessess and concavities, through hollows and over peaks - feeling, touching, seeing, through mind and hand and eye. This sensation has never left me. I, the sculptor, am the landscape. I am the form and the hollow, the thrust and the contour.
Before I start carving the idea must be almost complete. I say 'almost' because the really important thing seems to be the sculptor's ability to let his intuition guide him over the gap between conception and realization without compromising the integrity of the original idea; the point being that the material has vitality - it resists and makes demands.
At no point do I wish to be in conflict with any man or masculine thought. It doesn't enter my consciousness. Art is anonymous. It's not competitive with men. It's a complementary contribution.
I am the form and I am the hollow, the thrust and the contour
I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not.
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...
My works are an imitation of my own past and present.
I must always have a clear image of the form of a work before I begin. Otherwise there is no impulse to create.
Halfway through any work, one is often tempted to go off on a tangent. Once you have yielded, you will be tempted to yield again and again... Finally, you would only produce something hybrid.
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.
Sculpture is, in the twentieth century, a wide field of experience, with many facets of symbol and material and individual calligraphy. But in all these varied and exciting extensions of our experience we always come back tot the fact that we are human beings of such and such a size, biologically the same as primitive man, and that it is through drawing and observing, or observing and drawing, that we equate our bodies with our landscape.
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.
I love my blocks of marble, always piling up in the yard like a flock of sheep.
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.
Body experience is the centre of creation. (Meaning)
The United Nations is our conscience. If it succeeds it is our success. If it fails it is our failure.
― Barbara Hepworth Quotes
Barbara Hepworth (Artist) Life Highlights
- Barbara Hepworth was born on January 10, 1903, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.
- She was a prominent British sculptor and a leading figure in the international modern art movement.
- Hepworth's early interest in sculpture led her to study at the Leeds School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art in London.
- She became known for her abstract sculptures that often explored the relationship between form, space, and the human body.
- Hepworth was a prominent member of the avant-garde movement in London during the 1930s, along with other artists such as Henry Moore.
- Her works often featured organic and curvilinear forms, influenced by natural shapes and landscapes.
- Barbara Hepworth played a significant role in the development of the Direct Carving technique, where the artist carves directly into the material, allowing its inherent qualities to guide the form.
- During World War II, she relocated to St. Ives in Cornwall, where she found inspiration in the coastal landscape and established a studio.
- Hepworth's art gained international recognition, and she participated in major exhibitions in Europe and the United States.
- She was a key figure in the establishment of the Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall, promoting modern art in the region.
- Hepworth's work can be seen in various public spaces and museums worldwide, including the Tate Gallery in London.
- She received numerous awards and honors during her career, including a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1958.
- Tragically, Barbara Hepworth died in a fire at her studio in St. Ives on May 20, 1975.
- Her legacy as a pioneering modern sculptor endures, and her contributions to the art world continue to be celebrated and studied.
* The editor of this curated page made every effort to maintain information accuracy, including any sayings, quotes, facts, dates, or key life events.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
