Lot Essay
Elegant and deeply contemplative, The Unknown Political Prisoner [Maquette]: Truth is among the most compelling expressions of Barbara Hepworth’s post-war sculptural language. Rising in a poised vertical rhythm, the sculpture possesses the stillness and authority of a monument while retaining the intimacy of a hand-carved object. The subtle asymmetry of the form, its gently tapering contours and the delicately applied lime wash lend the surface a remarkable sense of tactility. Rather than concealing the material, the pale wash softens and animates the mahogany beneath, allowing its natural grain and warmth to remain visible while imbuing the sculpture with an almost ethereal luminosity. The result is a work of exceptional refinement, balancing material presence with spiritual resonance.
The sculpture was conceived in 1952 as part of Hepworth’s response to the international competition for a monument to ‘The Unknown Political Prisoner’, organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1953. Emerging at the height of the Cold War, the project invited artists to imagine a new kind of public monument dedicated not to military victory or political authority, but to the universal ideals of freedom, endurance and human dignity. The competition attracted over 3,500 entries from many of the leading sculptors and architects of the period, and the distinguished judging panel included Henry Moore. Ultimately, the competition was won by Reg Butler, whose dramatic, cage-like design became one of the defining sculptural visions of post-war Britain. Hepworth’s entry came joint-second, and was among the most philosophically nuanced submissions, transforming political subject matter into a deeply humanistic meditation on moral and spiritual resilience.
Rather than proposing a single monument, Hepworth developed a group of three related sculptural forms including Truth, Knowledge and Prisoner. As Hepworth explained in the catalogue accompanying the 1953 Tate exhibition: “The figure of the ‘Prisoner’ and the two supporting figures of ‘Truth’ and ‘Knowledge’ are intended to rise from ground level without plinth or base.” She envisaged the final sculptures at a monumental scale - twelve feet high and carved in stone - with the central Prisoner executed in lighter limestone and the supporting figures of Truth and Knowledge in darker granite. The present maquette, Truth; and Knowledge, were carved in mahogany, with a very lightly applied lime wash. The figure of the Prisoner was executed in a darker beech. Significantly, the other two maquettes from the series are now held in the collection of Tate, underscoring both the rarity and importance of the present work.
In many ways, the a-symmetrical, upright shape of The Unknown Political Prisoner [Maquette]: Truth bears strong affinities to Hepworth’s famous series of Single Form sculptures, a concentrated group of works which mark the high-point of her quest for a pure, abstract sculpture. Executed first in wood, plaster and marble, and later in bronze, these works all explore variations on the theme of a solitary, slender, vertical standing form. The Single Form works have become inextricably linked to the story of Hepworth’s close friendship with the highly respected secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, through the late 1950s and early 1960s. As Hepworth later explained, she found in Hammarskjöld a kindred spirit, with the pair sharing a similar view on the responsibility of the artists in the community and more broadly of the individual within society. Hammarskjöld was also a great admirer of Hepworth’s work and bought the sandalwood version of Single Form (1937-1938; BH 103) from the artist’s exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York in 1956.
Hepworth’s deeply rooted passion for direct carving – a technique she had first discovered during an extended sojourn to Italy in the 1920s – profoundly shaped her approach to form across her career. She often expressed her enjoyment of the physicality of this method of sculpting, the rhythms and motions that occurred in the act of cutting into and shaping the organic materials with her own hands, whether they be stone or wood. ‘The rhythm of the cutting is so sensitive and subconscious that it can express the slightest variation of bodily or physical response from day to day – as does one’s handwriting,’ she explained (‘The Sculptor Speaks,’ 1961; quoted in S. Bowness (ed.), Barbara Hepworth: Writings and Conversations, London, 2015, p. 157). Truth exemplifies this sensitivity, revealing Hepworth’s ability to transform organic material into a form of extraordinary clarity, stillness and gravitas.
image.png The present work was acquired directly from Hepworth by Linden Travers Holman (1913-2001) in the early 1960s, and has remained in the same family collection since. Known professionally as Linden Travers, the celebrated British actress is remembered particularly for her role in the classic 1939 Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes. Travers and her husband, James Holman, moved within an intellectually vibrant circle of artists, writers and patrons in post-war Britain. Despite having remained in the same family collection for over 60 years, the present work has an extensive exhibition history, having been included in Hepworth’s 1954 Retrospective at the Whitechapel in London, and most recently in the major Hepworth exhibition in Australia, at The Heide Museum of Modern Art, in Victoria.
The sculpture was conceived in 1952 as part of Hepworth’s response to the international competition for a monument to ‘The Unknown Political Prisoner’, organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1953. Emerging at the height of the Cold War, the project invited artists to imagine a new kind of public monument dedicated not to military victory or political authority, but to the universal ideals of freedom, endurance and human dignity. The competition attracted over 3,500 entries from many of the leading sculptors and architects of the period, and the distinguished judging panel included Henry Moore. Ultimately, the competition was won by Reg Butler, whose dramatic, cage-like design became one of the defining sculptural visions of post-war Britain. Hepworth’s entry came joint-second, and was among the most philosophically nuanced submissions, transforming political subject matter into a deeply humanistic meditation on moral and spiritual resilience.
Rather than proposing a single monument, Hepworth developed a group of three related sculptural forms including Truth, Knowledge and Prisoner. As Hepworth explained in the catalogue accompanying the 1953 Tate exhibition: “The figure of the ‘Prisoner’ and the two supporting figures of ‘Truth’ and ‘Knowledge’ are intended to rise from ground level without plinth or base.” She envisaged the final sculptures at a monumental scale - twelve feet high and carved in stone - with the central Prisoner executed in lighter limestone and the supporting figures of Truth and Knowledge in darker granite. The present maquette, Truth; and Knowledge, were carved in mahogany, with a very lightly applied lime wash. The figure of the Prisoner was executed in a darker beech. Significantly, the other two maquettes from the series are now held in the collection of Tate, underscoring both the rarity and importance of the present work.
In many ways, the a-symmetrical, upright shape of The Unknown Political Prisoner [Maquette]: Truth bears strong affinities to Hepworth’s famous series of Single Form sculptures, a concentrated group of works which mark the high-point of her quest for a pure, abstract sculpture. Executed first in wood, plaster and marble, and later in bronze, these works all explore variations on the theme of a solitary, slender, vertical standing form. The Single Form works have become inextricably linked to the story of Hepworth’s close friendship with the highly respected secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, through the late 1950s and early 1960s. As Hepworth later explained, she found in Hammarskjöld a kindred spirit, with the pair sharing a similar view on the responsibility of the artists in the community and more broadly of the individual within society. Hammarskjöld was also a great admirer of Hepworth’s work and bought the sandalwood version of Single Form (1937-1938; BH 103) from the artist’s exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York in 1956.
Hepworth’s deeply rooted passion for direct carving – a technique she had first discovered during an extended sojourn to Italy in the 1920s – profoundly shaped her approach to form across her career. She often expressed her enjoyment of the physicality of this method of sculpting, the rhythms and motions that occurred in the act of cutting into and shaping the organic materials with her own hands, whether they be stone or wood. ‘The rhythm of the cutting is so sensitive and subconscious that it can express the slightest variation of bodily or physical response from day to day – as does one’s handwriting,’ she explained (‘The Sculptor Speaks,’ 1961; quoted in S. Bowness (ed.), Barbara Hepworth: Writings and Conversations, London, 2015, p. 157). Truth exemplifies this sensitivity, revealing Hepworth’s ability to transform organic material into a form of extraordinary clarity, stillness and gravitas.
image.png The present work was acquired directly from Hepworth by Linden Travers Holman (1913-2001) in the early 1960s, and has remained in the same family collection since. Known professionally as Linden Travers, the celebrated British actress is remembered particularly for her role in the classic 1939 Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes. Travers and her husband, James Holman, moved within an intellectually vibrant circle of artists, writers and patrons in post-war Britain. Despite having remained in the same family collection for over 60 years, the present work has an extensive exhibition history, having been included in Hepworth’s 1954 Retrospective at the Whitechapel in London, and most recently in the major Hepworth exhibition in Australia, at The Heide Museum of Modern Art, in Victoria.