5 things we can learn from Barbara Hepworth
Lessons in life and art
“I rarely draw what I see—I draw what I feel in my body.” — Barbara Hepworth
Today’s instalment of the “5 things we can learn from…” series is dedicated to titan of British sculpture, Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975).
Hepworth is acclaimed for her small-to-colossal sculptures, which she hand-carved in wood and stone (and, from the 1950s, cast in bronze and other metals). Her sculptures fluctuate between hard and soft, light and dark, round and straight, solid and hollow, and are sometimes embedded with string and suffused with colour.
Scroll on for some of her words and artworks.
Plus, you can listen to Ali Smith discussing Barbara Hepworth on the GWA podcast!
1. Bring art into the everyday
Hepworth was a firm believer in bringing art into the everyday. To her, art was life, life was art. This mindset is reflected in her work, where organic forms emulate the shape of her environment. Her sculptures live in and with the world.
She once said “I detest a day of no work, no music, no poetry”. A gifted pianist, she listened to music while working and she loved to dance, comparing it to sculpting — “one is physically involved […] It’s rhythm and dance and everything.”
As Ali Smith put it, “Hepworth sends energy through everything civic and everything aesthetic at the same time, which means you can live artfully. In fact, you must.”
