Dimensions: object: 293 x 400 x 255 mm
Copyright: © Bowness, Hepworth Estate | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Barbara Hepworth’s Oval Sculpture No. 2 at the Tate is a marvel—it’s like she captured pure light and form. Editor: The first thing I see is the work itself. It is plaster, isn’t it? I wonder what was it like to handle that material, the labor of carving, smoothing. Curator: The hollows remind me of looking out to sea from a cave, a sort of womb with a view. Editor: Yes, and it's resting on a wooden base. The contrast suggests a tension between organic process and geometric form, the tension inherent in Hepworth’s practice. Curator: It’s like she’s inviting us to step inside, to contemplate the space within and without. It is a beautiful meditation. Editor: Indeed, quite beautiful; it makes me consider the production of art beyond mere aesthetics.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hepworth-oval-sculpture-no-2-t00953
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In the 1930s Barbara Hepworth and her husband Ben Nicholson were members of the London-based avant-garde. Shortly before the outbreak of war they moved to Cornwall with their children. Hepworth’s abstract forms, which seem akin to caves and shells, were affected by the Cornish landscape. Her response to nature was not romantic or mystical but more firmly based on actual observation. Circles and spheres had dominated her work. These were replaced by ovals which gave her sculptures two centres rather than one, complicating their interior form. Gallery label, November 2015
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