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Lot 7•,AR
Dame Barbara Hepworth(British, 1903-1975)Orpheus (Maquette 1) 52.4 cm. (20 5/8 in.) high (including the wooden base) Conceived in 1956, the present work is number 3 from an edition of 8
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Dame Barbara Hepworth (British, 1903-1975)
Orpheus (Maquette 1)
brass with strings on a wooden base
52.4 cm. (20 5/8 in.) high (including the wooden base)
Conceived in 1956, the present work is number 3 from an edition of 8
brass with strings on a wooden base
52.4 cm. (20 5/8 in.) high (including the wooden base)
Conceived in 1956, the present work is number 3 from an edition of 8
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired directly from the Artist by
Maurice & Ruth Ash of Dartington Hall, and thence by family descent
Presented to benefit the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) for philanthropic purposes
Exhibited
London, Gimpel Fils, Recent Work by Barbara Hepworth, June 1958, cat.no.2 (another version)
Plymouth, City Art Gallery, Barbara Hepworth, 16 June-16 August 1970, cat.no.70 (this version)
London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth: 50 sculptures from 1935 to 1970, 7 October-15 November 1975 (another version)
Valencia, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Barbara Hepworth, 2 September-14 November 2004 (another version)
Wakefield, The Hepworth Wakefield, Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life, 21 May 2021-27 February 2022 (another version); this exhibition travelled to Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, 9 April-2 October 2022, and St Ives, Tate, 26 November 2022-1 May 2023
Literature
Josef Paul Hodin, Barbara Hepworth, Lund Humphries, London, 1961, p.169, cat.no.221
Eleanor Clayton, Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life, Thames & Hudson, London, 2021, pp.204-205 (col.ill., another version)
We are grateful to Dr Sophie Bowness for her kind assistance with the cataloguing apparatus for the present work, which will feature in her forthcoming revised catalogue raisonné of the Artist's sculpture as cat.no.BH221.
Orpheus (Maquette 1) dates to 1956, the year in which Hepworth returned to working with metal in earnest and marks a radical departure from her thirty-year commitment to carving in stone and wood. The artist had previously explored this versatile medium as part of her involvement with the theatrical world, whereby she was employed to design the sets and costumes for the first Greek play, Sophocles' Electra, to be held at the Old Vic since the war in 1951. Electra takes place in the aftermath of the Trojan War with the god Apollo playing a key role as much of the drama unfolds before the main gate of the palace of Mycenae, with his temple on the left. Hepworth chose to render Apollo (which was made in an edition of two) in wire as she felt a normal form would dominate the stage, marking this as her first foray into metal, which allowed for spontaneous movement, giving the illusion of a three-dimensional entity drawn in space.
The concept of working with metal was becoming more prominent and, with the advancement of technology, had been embraced by younger artists associated with the 'Geometry of Fear' movement, a term coined by the prominent art critic Herbert Read in 1952 following their exhibition at the Venice Biennale. The group included Reg Butler, who had visited Hepworth's studio for a BBC radio conversation, during which she had commented 'It seems to me that it's the idea that matters, not the material. I think sculpture can be expressed in absolutely any material...each of us chooses the material which will fit an idea' (Dame Barbara Hepworth quoted in Eleanor Clayton, Barbara Hepworth, Art and Life, Thames and Hudson, London, 2021, p.195).
Orpheus (Maquette 1) belongs to a series of works in four versions culminating in Theme on Electronics (Orpheus), one of very few commissions undertaken by Hepworth and for the firm Mullard Ltd. The principal difference between them is in their height with all made in brass with strings and each of the first two versions conceived in an edition of eight (the present work being number 3). Hepworth created the sculpture by cutting and bending cut brass sheets, with the three points of the curved metal form held in tension by string sourced locally from fishing twine. These works were made in the studio, not a foundry, thus allowing for a more creative process in their conception and as reflected in the loosely brushed green patination of the inner surface which varies between editions, creating unique traits in each example. As recollected by her studio assistant Brian Wall, Hepworth insisted on the process of 'cold rolling', which involved repeatedly running wood over the metal to make it curl effectively, refraining from heat and then stringing by eye.
In 1954 Hepworth had travelled to Greece and this trip had a deep impact on her artistic output over the following years. The experience of visiting sites of Greek mythology as well as absorbing the landscape and ancient amphitheatres, 'the greatest man-made concavity', was profound. Orpheus was a renowned musician and poet who, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. Orpheus' musical ability was said to be so great that he taught the god Apollo how to play the lyre and he was the inspiration for a collection of Rilke's poetry titled Sonnets to Orpheus. As has been noted by Eleanor Clayton, this poetry may have formed a direct inspiration for this series of works as Sonnet I opens, 'A tree ascending. O pure transcension / O Orphic song!' Hepworth described her Orpheus series in similar, ascending terms, stating that 'I found the most intense pleasure in this new adventure in material – and revelled in the lightness of poise and delicacy of forms which seemed nearer to the flight of birds and their form in flight rather to more gravity-bound rocks and humans (Ibid, p.205).
The Orpheus series, as well as other related works such as Stringed Figure (Curlew) (1956), have often drawn comparisons with birds, flight and music, combining the 'wing of a lark, the poise of an arrow, and the craft of a harp' (Sally Festing, Barbara Hepworth, A Life in Forms, Viking, London, 1995, p.225). In these works, Hepworth found a very effective solution to the stringed works which she had begun in 1939 at the outbreak of war. Whereas the wooden works of earlier years, which were interlaced with string provided a stable backdrop to a frontal play of line, these metal pieces were much more literally held together by the stringing. They all offer an open framework against which the stringing becomes more three-dimensional, and their relationship is not only formal (the tension of one against the other), but also meaningful, in recalling either the strings of the instrument, or the score of the song itself.
Orpheus (Maquette 1) acted as catalyst for further development in Hepworth's sculpture as she committed herself to the exploration of metal. This led to the twisting of sheets of copper to create Forms in Movement (Galliard) (1956), itself paving the way for Forms in Movement (Pavan) (1956-59). In speaking of Galliard, Hepworth reflected on the importance of the medium, 'Metal has an entirely different kind of structure and, as I have said, it took me nearly thirty years to find a way of using it. I needed to understand it in order to be stimulated by it. I came to enjoy its very exciting properties, experimenting with sheet metal. I bent and twisted the sheets under tension until I found out the nature of its construction and forced it to express what I wanted by its nature and not against its nature. I worked entirely by instinct – cutting, shaping and rubbing the metal into what I wanted until the final moment of bending and twisting the whole thing. Either it worked, or all was lost. There was no possible retreat' (Sophie Bowness (ed.), Barbara Hepworth, Writings and Conversations, Tate Publishing, London, 2015, p.158).
Orpheus (Maquette 1) was acquired directly from Hepworth by Maurice and Ruth Ash of Dartington Hall. In the 20th Century this historic Devonian house became a mecca for creatives and free thinkers under the tenure of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst who acquired the property in 1925 and later established the Dartington School, a pioneering centre in alternative education. Students included Lucian and Clement Freud, Kirsty Lang and Jasia Reichardt, as well as Hepworth's own son, Simon.
Eldest and only daughter of the Elmhirst's, Ruth married Wimbledon competitor and army veteran Maurice Ash in 1947. The couple spent the early years of their marriage in Essex, where Ash founded the Harlow Arts Trust, and returned to Devon in 1962 moving to Sharpham House on the river Dart. Both Maurice and Ruth served as Trustees of Dartington, with Maurice also serving as Chairman of the Trust and as a founding member of the Henry Moore Foundation.
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