Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades on the life and art of Barbara Hepworth. Eleanor Clayton, curator of The Hepworth Wakefield and author of a new biography of the artist, took us through her life. Clayton talked about how she was able to use Hepworth’s own voice in her recent book as she wrote extensively on her art practice as well as writing copious letters to friends. Using great illustrations she talked about how her work developed over the years becoming more abstract over the years but also developing and changing. Despite going to a good exhibition on Hepworth at Tate Britain a few years ago I hadn’t realised she had made a piece for the United Nations.

Beautiful exhibition at Tate Britain focusing on the life and work of Barbara Hepworth. This was a beautifully displayed show with the sculptures given lots of space to see them from all sides and displayed against lovely different shades of blue in each room. Farrow and Ball eat your heart out! I loved the room on the studio she shared with Ben Nicholson which showed how they worked together and how their work became a dialogue which was mirrored in the joint shows they held in this period. I loved the quote “work and living are the same thing” rather Bloomsbury! The section on international modernism was fascinating as I’d never thought about the influx of refugees from Nazi Europe into the art world and the effect it had in boosting the modernist movement. I loved a photo of Mondrian at a nursery tea! I particularly like the wooden egg shaped works with the insides painted in white or blue and with threads stretched across them. This exhibition gave me a new u...