Barbara Hepworth died 50 years ago on 20th May 1975 at her studio nestled in the heart of St Ives. She left a legacy in her will – the wish that her home and studio be preserved as a museum and sculpture garden for the enjoyment of visitors to St Ives. That legacy endures to this day as the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden and is partly responsible for her continued relevance to the British and international art scene, even this long after her untimely death.
Hepworth was born in 1903 in Wakefield, Yorkshire. After studies at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, she embarked on a travel scholarship to Italy, where she learnt to carve marble from an artisan, Giovanni Ardini, and fell in love with the Mediterranean light. Back then, it would have seemed impossible that she was to later spend almost half her life in such a seemingly quiet corner of Penwith.
Her first arrival to Cornwall was a less romantic event. On 25th August 1939 at the invitation of Margaret Mellis and Adrian Stokes, Hepworth arrived in Carbis Bay, bringing her second husband and their triplets to escape the looming threat of WW2. She arrived on a rainy night, in low spirits, a little resentful at moving to a place she’d never been before. But as Cornwall does, it got under her skin.
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The ancient stones of Penwith and the tight-knit communities reminded her of the rolling landscape and mill towns of her childhood in Yorkshire, and the pure Cornish light reminded her of those early romantic days in Italy.
Before long she was deeply connected to the Cornish ‘pagan’ landscape. Her work began to reflect the deep affinity she felt for this area; paying homage to ancient megaliths and creating emotional stringed works capturing the feeling of the embrace of the landscape and the tension she felt within it.
A pivotal moment was her purchasing Trewyn Studios, her home from 1950 until her death 25 years later. “Finding Trewyn was a sort of magic”, she would later reflect. It was Trewyn Studio that became her centre of gravity, and from here she grew her universe. Later she purchased the Palais de Danse in 1961(currently being developed into a new part of her museum by Tate St Ives), expanding her works in size and complexity – moving from direct carving of wood and stone, to bronze cast works that could be displayed outside where they had relevance and context.
She was passionate about St Ives’ old town character and was vocal in saving many parts of the town facing destruction, so it’s no surprise that she also wished her work to be displayed within the town. Today there are reminders of Hepworth all around the town, from the cobbled streets which she helped to preserve, the bronzes dotted around the town (Dual Form outside the Guildhall temporarily removed while work is undertaken) to the beautiful white marble Madonna and Child in the Parish Church and, of course, her museum.
50 years on from her death, Hepworth’s visual language is testament to her deep respect for the rhythms of the natural landscape and her work remains as vital and dynamic as it did when she first made it.
Ethan Carney
