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Descriptif du lot
In 1954, Hepworth travelled extensively throughout Greece, by boat, with her great friend, Margaret Gardiner. The trip followed the death of her eldest son Paul, who had died in a plane crash in Thailand, whilst serving in the R.A.F., early in 1953: it was also to fulfil a life-long ambition of hers to visit the country. Writing whilst she was away, in a notebook that Ben Nicholson had given her, she observed, ‘I am in this 20th century but this is Greece & in these few days I must know & find & hold all these essentials. Alas I know too little of history and no dates & few facts would be nice to know – but not here! The quality of touch through feet cheek, the rhythm of movement, the temperature of marble, the worn path leading to somewhere & the space, volume, rhythm weight & substance of sculpture temple or palace have a meaning which I must find & hold in these brief hours and silent exultant pleasure. I must be antisocial – Each morning at dawn we now arrive at some new island’ (see B. Hepworth, Dunluce notebook, TGA 201518, published in S. Bowness (ed.), Barbara Hepworth Writings and Conversations, London, 2015, p. 100).
Hepworth further described her thrill of experiencing ancient architecture in the stunning wild scenery on the Aegean coast, 'In Greece the inspiration was fantastic. I ran up the hills like a hare, with my notebook, to get there first and have the total impact of solitude. I made many drawings for new sculptures called Delphi, Delos, Mycenae, Epidauros, and Santorin. These forms were my experience there. After my solitude I waited for the 199 people I had left behind and watched their movements and responses on entering the architecture in the superb location of mountain, hill and plain. This was very anti-social, I admit; but I had waited thirty years to get to Greece. To get up early and be the first to climb up to Santorin, to find my place at the top of the theatre of Epidauros, surrounded by the sighing wind above, and warmed by the worn marble - with the heavenly sound of the human voice coming from below and the whole vast and glorious shape below me - was the embodiment of the sculptor’s landscape’ (see A. Bowness (intro.), Barbara Hepworth, drawings from a sculptor’s landscape, London, 1966, p. 12).
When Hepworth returned to St Ives from Greece in August 1954, she found that Gardiner had sent her a large shipment of 17 tons of Nigerian Guarea hardwood. Between 1954 and 1956 Hepworth sculpted six pieces out of Guarea wood, many of which were inspired by her trip to Greece, such as Corinthos from 1954 and Curved Form (Delphi), from 1955.
The impressive ruined Temple of Poseidon, built circa 440 BC, which stand on a cliff top at the southern tip of Cape Sounion (or Sunion), overlooking the Aegean Sea in three directions, was the inspiration for the present sculpture. It would have been here, in ancient times, that mariners would worship Poseidon prior to setting sail. Only some of the columns remain standing of the former hexastyle temple today. It is possible that the circular form near the top of the sculpture may represent the sun since on the longest day of the year, the sun sets exactly in the middle of the caldera of the island of Patroklos, the extinct volcano that lies a few miles due west of the Temple of Poseidon, suggesting both an astrological significance for the siting of the temple and for the symbolism in Hepworth’s carving in the present work.
The Temple has lured many important visitors through its more recent history. Lord Byron (1788-1824), whose name is carved into the base of one of the columns, is known to have visited Sounion twice in 1810-11 and he mentions Sounion in his poem ‘Isles of Greece’:
Place me on Sunion’s marbled steep
Where nothing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep
Figure (Sunion) was carved from elm, the native British hardwood which was a much loved component of the British landscape for centuries, famously immortalised in watercolour by Paul Nash in the first decades of the 20th century. Its broad grain and warm colour was highly regarded by Hepworth who used the wood on various occasions. Figure (Nyanga) from 1959-60 (Tate) stands at 33 inches high, whilst Hollow Form with White from 1965 (Tate) stands at 53 inches high. Totemic and monumental, at 74½ inches high, Figure (Sunion) is an exquisitely carved sculptural presence: the embodiment of Hepworth's mastery of her medium and commitment to her materials.
Hepworth further described her thrill of experiencing ancient architecture in the stunning wild scenery on the Aegean coast, 'In Greece the inspiration was fantastic. I ran up the hills like a hare, with my notebook, to get there first and have the total impact of solitude. I made many drawings for new sculptures called Delphi, Delos, Mycenae, Epidauros, and Santorin. These forms were my experience there. After my solitude I waited for the 199 people I had left behind and watched their movements and responses on entering the architecture in the superb location of mountain, hill and plain. This was very anti-social, I admit; but I had waited thirty years to get to Greece. To get up early and be the first to climb up to Santorin, to find my place at the top of the theatre of Epidauros, surrounded by the sighing wind above, and warmed by the worn marble - with the heavenly sound of the human voice coming from below and the whole vast and glorious shape below me - was the embodiment of the sculptor’s landscape’ (see A. Bowness (intro.), Barbara Hepworth, drawings from a sculptor’s landscape, London, 1966, p. 12).
When Hepworth returned to St Ives from Greece in August 1954, she found that Gardiner had sent her a large shipment of 17 tons of Nigerian Guarea hardwood. Between 1954 and 1956 Hepworth sculpted six pieces out of Guarea wood, many of which were inspired by her trip to Greece, such as Corinthos from 1954 and Curved Form (Delphi), from 1955.
The impressive ruined Temple of Poseidon, built circa 440 BC, which stand on a cliff top at the southern tip of Cape Sounion (or Sunion), overlooking the Aegean Sea in three directions, was the inspiration for the present sculpture. It would have been here, in ancient times, that mariners would worship Poseidon prior to setting sail. Only some of the columns remain standing of the former hexastyle temple today. It is possible that the circular form near the top of the sculpture may represent the sun since on the longest day of the year, the sun sets exactly in the middle of the caldera of the island of Patroklos, the extinct volcano that lies a few miles due west of the Temple of Poseidon, suggesting both an astrological significance for the siting of the temple and for the symbolism in Hepworth’s carving in the present work.
The Temple has lured many important visitors through its more recent history. Lord Byron (1788-1824), whose name is carved into the base of one of the columns, is known to have visited Sounion twice in 1810-11 and he mentions Sounion in his poem ‘Isles of Greece’:
Place me on Sunion’s marbled steep
Where nothing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep
Figure (Sunion) was carved from elm, the native British hardwood which was a much loved component of the British landscape for centuries, famously immortalised in watercolour by Paul Nash in the first decades of the 20th century. Its broad grain and warm colour was highly regarded by Hepworth who used the wood on various occasions. Figure (Nyanga) from 1959-60 (Tate) stands at 33 inches high, whilst Hollow Form with White from 1965 (Tate) stands at 53 inches high. Totemic and monumental, at 74½ inches high, Figure (Sunion) is an exquisitely carved sculptural presence: the embodiment of Hepworth's mastery of her medium and commitment to her materials.