Spring 1966

Editor: This is Barbara Hepworth's sculpture, "Spring." It's bronze, and I'm struck by its egg-like shape and how the strings inside create a sense of vulnerability and openness. What do you see in this piece? Curator: "Spring," indeed. Hepworth's work, particularly after the Second World War, embodies a humanist response to devastation. This piercing, this hollowing out, isn't just about form; it's about revealing interiority, like excavating the self. Can we consider the strings as representative of the interconnectedness of community, resilience, and the fragility of existence? Editor: I hadn’t thought about it in relation to the war. So, the sculpture is not just about the aesthetic of form, but about the wounds of the world too? Curator: Precisely. Hepworth’s sculptures invite us to consider how personal and collective traumas manifest and are given form through art. Editor: That gives me so much to think about, thank you! Curator: Of course. I'm glad we could uncover something new together.