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Lot 16^AR

Dame Barbara Hepworth
(British, 1903-1975)
Small Hieroglyph 10.5 cm. (4 1/8 in.) high

Modern British and Irish Art

20 November 2013, 14:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £30,000 inc. premium

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Dame Barbara Hepworth (British, 1903-1975)

Small Hieroglyph
numbered twice '9/10' (on the base of each form)
polished bronze on a bronze base
10.5 cm. (4 1/8 in.) high
Conceived in 1959, BH268

Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
The Artist
Gifted from the above to John Read
Thence by family descent to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

EXHIBITED:
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, 30 May 1961, cat.no.8 (another cast)
London, Tate Gallery, Barbara Hepworth, 3 April-19 May 1968, cat.no.98 (another cast)
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth; 50 Sculptures from 1935-1970, 7 October-15 November 1975, cat.no.24 (another cast ill.b&w)

LITERATURE:
J. P. Hodin, Barbara Hepworth, Lund Humphries, London, 1961, p.170, cat.no.BH268

John Read, son of Sir Herbert Read, was a television producer and director who is credited as the father of the arts documentary within British broadcasting. He worked for the BBC throughout four decades during which he made over one hundred films, most of which focused on the visual arts. These included landmark documentaries on L.S. Lowry, Henry Moore, Walter Sickert and Stanley Spencer. In 1961 he produced a 30 minute film on Hepworth, filmed at her St. Ives home and exploring the link between the process of her work and the surrounding landscape (viewable on the BBC Online Archive). It is likely that the present work was gifted to Read by the artist in gratitude for his work on this film.

We are grateful to Dr. Sophie Bowness for her assistance in cataloguing this work.

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