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Lot Essay
TO BE INCLUDED IN THE REVISED EDITION OF THE BARBARA HEPWORTH CATALOGUE RAISONNé BEING PREPARED BY SIR ALAN BOWNESS.
IN 1952 HEPWORTH RECALLED THE EXCEPTIONAL PERIOD IN WHICH SHE CREATED THE PRESENT WORK, "WHEN WAR WAS DECLARED IN SEPTEMBER 1939 I WAS IN CORNWALL WHERE GOOD FRIENDS HAD OFFERED HOSPITALITY TO THE CHILDREN. EARLY IN 1940 WE MANAGED TO FIND A SMALL HOUSE AND FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS...I WAS NOT ABLE TO CARVE AT ALL...THE ONLY SCULPTURES I CARRIED OUT WERE SOME SMALL PLASTER MAQUETTES FOR THE SECOND 'SCULPTURE WITH COLOUR', AND IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1943, WHEN WE MOVED TO ANOTHER HOUSE, THAT I WAS ABLE TO CARVE THIS IDEA... IN ST. IVES I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE CONSTANT CONTACT WITH ARTISTS AND WRITERS AND CRAFTSMEN WHO LIVED THERE, BEN NICHOLSON MY HUSBAND, NAUM GABO, BERNARD LEACH, ADRIAN STOKES, AND THERE WAS A STEADY STREAM OF VISITORS FROM LONDON WHO CAME FOR A FEW DAYS REST, AND WHO CONTRIBUTED IN A GREAT MEASURE TO THE IMPORTANT EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND STIMULUS TO CREATIVE ACTIVITY...
IT WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT I GRADUALLY DISCOVERED THE REMARKABLE PAGAN LANDSCAPE WHICH LIES BETWEEN ST. IVES, PENZANCE AND LAND'S END; A LANDSCAPE WHICH STILL HAS A VERY DEEP EFFECT ON ME, DEVELOPING ALL MY IDEAS ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE HUMAN FIGURE IN LANDSCAPE - SCULPTURE IN LANDSCAPE AND THE ESSENTIAL QUALITY OF LIGHT IN RELATION TO SCULPTURE WHICH INDUCED A NEW WAY OF PIERCING THE FORMS TO CONTAIN COLOUR... THE SEA, A FLAT DIMINISHING PLANE, HELD WITHIN ITSELF THE CAPACITY TO RADIATE AN INFINITUDE OF BLUES, GREYS, GREENS AND EVEN PINKS OF STRANGE HUES; THE LIGHTHOUSE AND ITS STRANGE ROCKY ISLAND WAS AN EYE; THE ISLAND OF ST. IVES AN ARM, A HAND, A FACE... I USED COLOUR AND STRINGS IN MANY OF THE CARVINGS OF THIS TIME. THE COLOUR IN THE CONCAVITIES PLUNGED ME INTO THE DEPTH OF WATER, CAVES, OR SHADOWS DEEPER THAN THE CARVED CONCAVITIES THEMSELVES. THE STRINGS WERE THE TENSION I FELT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE SEA, THE WIND OR THE HILLS." (OP. CIT.,, CHAPTER 4, 'THE WAR, CORNWALL AND THE ARTIST IN LANDSCAPE', N.P.).
THE PRESENT WORK WAS ACQUIRED DIRECTLY FROM HEPWORTH BY HELEN SUTHERLAND, A CLOSE FRIEND AND UNDOUBTEDLY ONE OF THE SCULPTOR'S MOST SIGNIFICANT PATRONS. AS SALLY FESTING EXPLAINS, "TWO WOMEN FRIENDS WHO TOOK A CONSISTENT INTEREST IN BARBARA'S WORK WERE NICOLETE BINYON AND HELEN SUTHERLAND. ALL THREE HAD A SLIGHTLY FORMIDABLE PRESENCE AND AN INCISIVE MIND. DURING THE CRITICAL LATE TWENTIES AND THIRTIES, [HELEN] DEVOTED HERSELF TO PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS. HER JUDGEMENT WAS ACUTELY DISCERNING. SHE HAD BEEN A VERY EARLY PURCHASER OF BEN'S [NICHOLSON] WORK, BUT SHE ALSO BOUGHT FROM HEPWORTH, DAVID JONES AND NAUM GABO LONG BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS." (S. FESTING, BARBARA HEPWORTH, A LIFE OF FORMS, LONDON 1995, PP. 108 & 173).
SUTHERLAND WENT ON TO AMASS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS OF TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITISH ART, A LARGE SELECTION OF WHICH WAS THE SUBJECT OF A TOURING EXHIBITION IN BRITAIN IN 1971. ROBIN CAMPBELL, THE DIRECTOR OF ART AT THE HAYWARD GALLERY AT THE TIME, EXPLAINED IN HIS FOREWORD TO THE CATALOGUE, "THE HELEN SUTHERLAND COLLECTION WAS THAT RARE THING, A BODY OF WORKS, MOSTLY OF MARKEDLY AVANT-GARDE CHARACTER, ASSEMBLED... FOR PLEASURE AND INTEREST AND AS THE MOST REAL EXPRESSION OF FRIENDSHIP AND FAITH. IN THE CONTEXT OF 1930S BRITAIN IT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN UNIQUE; ANYWHERE AND AT ANY TIME IT WOULD BE REMARKABLE." (OP. CIT., P. 3).
SCULPTURE WITH COLOUR (OVAL FORM) PALE BLUE AND RED WAS BEQUEATHED BY SUTHERLAND TO HER FRIEND NICOLETE BINYON AND HAS REMAINED IN THE LATTER'S FAMILY EVER SINCE.
IN 1952 HEPWORTH RECALLED THE EXCEPTIONAL PERIOD IN WHICH SHE CREATED THE PRESENT WORK, "WHEN WAR WAS DECLARED IN SEPTEMBER 1939 I WAS IN CORNWALL WHERE GOOD FRIENDS HAD OFFERED HOSPITALITY TO THE CHILDREN. EARLY IN 1940 WE MANAGED TO FIND A SMALL HOUSE AND FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS...I WAS NOT ABLE TO CARVE AT ALL...THE ONLY SCULPTURES I CARRIED OUT WERE SOME SMALL PLASTER MAQUETTES FOR THE SECOND 'SCULPTURE WITH COLOUR', AND IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1943, WHEN WE MOVED TO ANOTHER HOUSE, THAT I WAS ABLE TO CARVE THIS IDEA... IN ST. IVES I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE CONSTANT CONTACT WITH ARTISTS AND WRITERS AND CRAFTSMEN WHO LIVED THERE, BEN NICHOLSON MY HUSBAND, NAUM GABO, BERNARD LEACH, ADRIAN STOKES, AND THERE WAS A STEADY STREAM OF VISITORS FROM LONDON WHO CAME FOR A FEW DAYS REST, AND WHO CONTRIBUTED IN A GREAT MEASURE TO THE IMPORTANT EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND STIMULUS TO CREATIVE ACTIVITY...
IT WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT I GRADUALLY DISCOVERED THE REMARKABLE PAGAN LANDSCAPE WHICH LIES BETWEEN ST. IVES, PENZANCE AND LAND'S END; A LANDSCAPE WHICH STILL HAS A VERY DEEP EFFECT ON ME, DEVELOPING ALL MY IDEAS ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE HUMAN FIGURE IN LANDSCAPE - SCULPTURE IN LANDSCAPE AND THE ESSENTIAL QUALITY OF LIGHT IN RELATION TO SCULPTURE WHICH INDUCED A NEW WAY OF PIERCING THE FORMS TO CONTAIN COLOUR... THE SEA, A FLAT DIMINISHING PLANE, HELD WITHIN ITSELF THE CAPACITY TO RADIATE AN INFINITUDE OF BLUES, GREYS, GREENS AND EVEN PINKS OF STRANGE HUES; THE LIGHTHOUSE AND ITS STRANGE ROCKY ISLAND WAS AN EYE; THE ISLAND OF ST. IVES AN ARM, A HAND, A FACE... I USED COLOUR AND STRINGS IN MANY OF THE CARVINGS OF THIS TIME. THE COLOUR IN THE CONCAVITIES PLUNGED ME INTO THE DEPTH OF WATER, CAVES, OR SHADOWS DEEPER THAN THE CARVED CONCAVITIES THEMSELVES. THE STRINGS WERE THE TENSION I FELT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE SEA, THE WIND OR THE HILLS." (OP. CIT.,, CHAPTER 4, 'THE WAR, CORNWALL AND THE ARTIST IN LANDSCAPE', N.P.).
THE PRESENT WORK WAS ACQUIRED DIRECTLY FROM HEPWORTH BY HELEN SUTHERLAND, A CLOSE FRIEND AND UNDOUBTEDLY ONE OF THE SCULPTOR'S MOST SIGNIFICANT PATRONS. AS SALLY FESTING EXPLAINS, "TWO WOMEN FRIENDS WHO TOOK A CONSISTENT INTEREST IN BARBARA'S WORK WERE NICOLETE BINYON AND HELEN SUTHERLAND. ALL THREE HAD A SLIGHTLY FORMIDABLE PRESENCE AND AN INCISIVE MIND. DURING THE CRITICAL LATE TWENTIES AND THIRTIES, [HELEN] DEVOTED HERSELF TO PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS. HER JUDGEMENT WAS ACUTELY DISCERNING. SHE HAD BEEN A VERY EARLY PURCHASER OF BEN'S [NICHOLSON] WORK, BUT SHE ALSO BOUGHT FROM HEPWORTH, DAVID JONES AND NAUM GABO LONG BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS." (S. FESTING, BARBARA HEPWORTH, A LIFE OF FORMS, LONDON 1995, PP. 108 & 173).
SUTHERLAND WENT ON TO AMASS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS OF TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITISH ART, A LARGE SELECTION OF WHICH WAS THE SUBJECT OF A TOURING EXHIBITION IN BRITAIN IN 1971. ROBIN CAMPBELL, THE DIRECTOR OF ART AT THE HAYWARD GALLERY AT THE TIME, EXPLAINED IN HIS FOREWORD TO THE CATALOGUE, "THE HELEN SUTHERLAND COLLECTION WAS THAT RARE THING, A BODY OF WORKS, MOSTLY OF MARKEDLY AVANT-GARDE CHARACTER, ASSEMBLED... FOR PLEASURE AND INTEREST AND AS THE MOST REAL EXPRESSION OF FRIENDSHIP AND FAITH. IN THE CONTEXT OF 1930S BRITAIN IT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN UNIQUE; ANYWHERE AND AT ANY TIME IT WOULD BE REMARKABLE." (OP. CIT., P. 3).
SCULPTURE WITH COLOUR (OVAL FORM) PALE BLUE AND RED WAS BEQUEATHED BY SUTHERLAND TO HER FRIEND NICOLETE BINYON AND HAS REMAINED IN THE LATTER'S FAMILY EVER SINCE.