Lot Essay
'Musician' was acquired by Professor E.J. Wayne, an eminent Consultant Physician, during the 1930s. He treated the wife of a wealthy industrialist in Sheffield (Mr Bennett) and on refusing a fee was invited to chose a work from their reputedly extensive modern art collection. Professor Wayne chose 'Musician' and apparently unaware of the artist's full significance for many years, he finally wrote to the artist on 10 April 1968 to inform her of the work's current whereabouts. She replied 'I was simply delighted that you have the alabaster sculpture 'Musician' from my early days, as I have never known where it went after the first owner's death ... It has always been a relief to locate a sculpture which has been long lost'.
Hepworth was interested in carving from an early age and in 1920 at the age of 16 she won a scholarship to Leeds School of Art. Here she met and befriended Henry Moore and together they transferred the following year to the Royal College of Art in London, and although not part of the college curriculum, it was here that Hepworth began to carve 'direct'. In 1924 the winner of the college diploma as well as a scholarship from her native West Riding, she travelled to Italy to study sculpture, making the journey twice more the following year. Here she met and married the sculptor John Skeaping in May 1925, who was working at the British School in Rome as Rome Scholar in sculpture. During her two years in Italy she had been taught the traditional techniques of marble carving by the master carver Ardini; she continued in this medium until around 1928 by which time she was working with English sandstone, limestone, and as in this instance, alabaster.
Ronald Alley in the Tate Gallery catalogue (Barbara Hepworth, April-May 1968, p.8) comments 'By 1929-30 her work begins to take on rhythm of its own and to develop towards a more stylized treatment. There is a growing tendency to emphasize the basic underlying forms such as the ovoid of a head or the cylinder of a torso ... whereas Moore was fascinated by the barbaric vitality and was never greatly influenced in beauty as such, Barbara Hepworth has always striven for a kind of classical, timeless beauty and order'. 'Musician' epitomizes these qualities.
The present work was first exhibited in the artist's second joint exhibition with her husband John Skeaping, on this occasion held at the London galleries of Arthur Tooth & Son in 1930 (no.36). The exhibition received almost unanimous critical acclaim with in-depth reviews by eight national newspapers and her international status was assured.
Hepworth was interested in carving from an early age and in 1920 at the age of 16 she won a scholarship to Leeds School of Art. Here she met and befriended Henry Moore and together they transferred the following year to the Royal College of Art in London, and although not part of the college curriculum, it was here that Hepworth began to carve 'direct'. In 1924 the winner of the college diploma as well as a scholarship from her native West Riding, she travelled to Italy to study sculpture, making the journey twice more the following year. Here she met and married the sculptor John Skeaping in May 1925, who was working at the British School in Rome as Rome Scholar in sculpture. During her two years in Italy she had been taught the traditional techniques of marble carving by the master carver Ardini; she continued in this medium until around 1928 by which time she was working with English sandstone, limestone, and as in this instance, alabaster.
Ronald Alley in the Tate Gallery catalogue (Barbara Hepworth, April-May 1968, p.8) comments 'By 1929-30 her work begins to take on rhythm of its own and to develop towards a more stylized treatment. There is a growing tendency to emphasize the basic underlying forms such as the ovoid of a head or the cylinder of a torso ... whereas Moore was fascinated by the barbaric vitality and was never greatly influenced in beauty as such, Barbara Hepworth has always striven for a kind of classical, timeless beauty and order'. 'Musician' epitomizes these qualities.
The present work was first exhibited in the artist's second joint exhibition with her husband John Skeaping, on this occasion held at the London galleries of Arthur Tooth & Son in 1930 (no.36). The exhibition received almost unanimous critical acclaim with in-depth reviews by eight national newspapers and her international status was assured.