Round Forms IV

Previous - Subsequent

When the glue dries, it's ready for drilling, painting and assembly.

Must remember to drill the hole, top left.

Round Forms III

Previous - Subsequent

I had the idea of using beermats rather than plywood for the round bits as that would be a lot easier. It is difficult to find round beermats these days. Beermats were on sale at the recent Bexley Beer Festival, none of them round. On a visit to Brighton last weekend we saw a hugely enjoyable performance of Two Guvnors at the Little Theatre and at the top of the lane leading there is the Pull and Pump, wherein were found round ones, some of which were liberated.

They are approximately the same size as those used in Square Forms and might be too small for the proposed Round Forms, so that will mean either trimming the bat or cutting circles in plywood.

We'll see.

Round Forms II

Previous - Subsequent

Here's the first pass at Round Forms, at a cost of 7 pence (1x2p + 5x1p), superglue and a BBQ skewer.

It bears an unfortunate resemblance to the bastard child of a set of Mickey Mouse ears and a broken Olympics logo, but so it goes.

Fig 2 shows it in white, which was the initial plan.

I think I might go for a black upright, black or white base and a mixture of white and shades of grey (as with a lot of the early Mondrians) for the round components.

I might also drill a few large circles in the components to reinforce the relationship with the Nicholson shown in RF1 and also some of the larger Hepworth Square Form pieces which had holes.

Square Forms with Circle, Dallas
Source

Build VI

Previous

Here they are in situ and pretty much complete.
Round forms to follow.

And where it all started.

Build V

Previous - Next

Steady progress today. Turned #9 black then found some Hammerite Dark Green in the shed (no notion what we bought it for) which is a bit bronzy.

On the #3, I had planned careful preparation and colour trials but, in the end, just slapped some red and blue on. I'll try to get some matt yellow and white tomorrow.

Green Ted, who was there at the start on Barbara's fireplace shelf in St Ives has reappeared. I think the real thing is rather taller than mine. So it goes.

The ping pong bat is about 6" wide and 7" high. Think on and play with coins.

Build IV

Previous - Next

Assembly is now complete with the help of some new clamps from Wilko's and Poundland. I made the mistake of using the wrong paint on the first. I should have used my glasses in the shed - I saw the word 'undercoat' but only when I had finished did I realise that the paint tin said "gloss, undercoat not needed" rather than actually denoting undercoat.

No matter, it will be satin black tomorrow. And the second will be undercoated prior to becoming primary-coloured.

I have found an old bat with which to make a start on Round Forms.

[Later that day]
The plan is to show them on either side of the new (-ly redecorated) fireplace. Round Forms might fit in the middle. The configuration should be based on the known pieces but given that they are approximately chiral, copying one directly would be unbalanced. I am inclined to use the structure of #3 but a mirror image. There is already a picture to hand from Build III

Here's a notion - build trial pieces using coins, lolly sticks and superglue. Fun times ahead.

Round Forms

Subsequent

Looking at illus. 2 in the last post, it occurred to me that an old ping pong bat would make a good starting point for a less angular variant. Given that the Square Forms pieces comprise five squares and a central rectangle (proportionally 1x1½), a bat and five circles might suit. White circles (or ovoids) would also echo some early Hepworth and especially Nicholson pieces.

Build III

Previous - Next

1. The bases, two pieces of plywood each

2. Base and pillar

3. The first squares added

I would have managed a bit more today, but the rain started and I ran out of clamps.

I might be wrong, but I am beginning to think that the two pieces a have images of (#3 and #9) are not as different as they first appear. I think #3 is just backwards, or perhaps more properly, "normally displayed from the reverse".

#3 normal view / #3 reversed / #9

On the other hand, perhaps not. A larger image and a side view of #3 would be useful.

Build II

Previous - Next

I cut some squares a while ago. I'll start putting them together today. The plan is to make the two forms of the piece I am aware of:

These are all the images I could find on the interweb this morning. The previous build blog quoted the dimensions specified in the catalogue of 60s sculptures and notes that there is no mention of the central pillar. From the photographs:

• the width is about half that of the base 
• the height protruding from the base is slightly less than the width of the base;
• the depth is tricky to judge, but about a quarter of the base, i.e. about half the width of the upright.

In an arbitrary decision before starting today, as in the original, I am only going to use offcuts that are to hand for the project and so I'll cut whatever I find to approximate those.

V&A library

The V&A provided their usual excellent service, but the books were a disappointment. The Bowness catalogue merely stated that the 9 sculptures are in private collections and gave a low-res image.
Later, #9 was "Presented by the executors of the artist's estate, in accordance with her wishes, 1980" [link].

The Tate St Ives catalogue provided a good image of the piece.

Sources

Hepworth web site

Wikipedia - biography, images

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Books
The Hepworth web site states that a new catalogue raisonné is being worked on and cites the two previous versions,

• J.P. Hodin, Barbara Hepworth, with a catalogue of sculptures by Alan Bowness, London (Lund Humphries) and Neuchâtel (Editions du Griffon), 1961. Editions in English, French and German (out of print)
• Alan Bowness (ed.), The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth 1960–69, London (Lund Humphries), 1971 (out of print)

I hope to see the second tomorrow (10th March) at the V&A and I found a battered copy of what might be the same thing on Amazon today for £7.23

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Auctioneers etc.
Sotheby's 
Christie's
MutualArt 

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Linked pieces

Condensed from the Tate page,

Monumental Stela

Square Forms saw the reintroduction of a more geometrical approach. She had used such forms in the 1930s, most notably with the Constructive carving Monumental Stela, 1936 (BH 82, destroyed, repr. Herbert Read, Barbara Hepworth: Carvings and Drawings, 1952, pl.43), in which shallow rectangular planes appeared to be similarly shifted in progressive dispositions. [image source]

It is notable that the sculptor specifically remarked upon the ambition of such lost pre-war works, telling Alan Bowness in 1970 that more recently she had the 'space and time and money for materials' to realise them on a large scale (Bowness 1971, p.7).

Square Forms with Circles

The use of this geometry on such a scale was also recalled when Hepworth reconceived Square Forms as Square Forms with Circles, 1963 (BH 326, private collection, repr. Bowness 1971, pl.74) at nearly eight times the size. This enlargement differs in some details (the vertical rectangle is off-set further to the left) and has the roughened surface typical of Hepworth's monumental bronzes but here also developed out of the process of manufacture. A circular depression was cut into the face of the uppermost square, and an incised circle appears on the reverse of this element - suggesting potential removal - and on the reverse of that at the top left. [image source]

Squares with Two Circles

These circles became conical piercings in Squares with Two Circles, 1963. [image source]

The artist also took up this simplicity in ensuing drawings, especially the linear Square and Circle, 1963 (private collection, repr. Alan Bowness, Barbara Hepworth: Drawings from a Sculptor's Landscape, 1966, pl.55). [still looking for an image]

Nicholson, White Relief (Triplets)

As well as Hepworth's sculptures from the 1930s, this modified geometry and the effect of shallow overlapping planes relates to the reliefs of Ben Nicholson, both from that period and as resumed in the late 1950s. Especially notable is Nicholson's October 2 1934 (white relief - triplets), 1934 (private collection on loan to High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, repr. in col., Ben Nicholson, exh. cat., Tate Gallery 1993, p.144, no.55), where the top square is set to the right and punctured by a circle. [image source - not certain this is the work referred to, but it meets some of the criteria]

His reliefs of the 1950s are more often constituted of quadrilateral and rhomboidal planes, such as those found in 1957, April (Lipari), 1957 (private collection, repr. in col. ibid., p.186, no.111). [still looking]

Significantly, these reliefs made a virtue of the dense texture and uneven absorbency of the materials to achieve a mottled surface which may be compared to that favoured by Hepworth on her bronzes.

Build I

Next

I happened to be cutting some plywood today as part of a fireplace rebuild and so took the opportunity to cut ten 3½"x3½" pieces.

Components (see Dimensions):

• Square Forms was made of seven elements projecting from a rectangular column screwed to a square base and selectively patinated green.
• There are five overlapping squares which, like the base, each measure c.89mm (3 1/2 in.);
• the base is 23mm (7/8 in.) thick, the planes c.5mm (3/16 in.)
• The core of the cluster is held by a vertical rectangle (equivalent to a square and a half) held in the column in a mortise joint.
• Behind it, a small rectangle (half a square) lifts up a square (the third from the front);
• another square (the fourth), immediately behind, is let into a shallow joint cut away from the top back edge of the column.
• The other squares are stacked up and displaced upwards or to the side.
• They are simply riveted together face to face ... rivets are discernible in the overlap between the highest square and that below.
• Apart from the column, all the main surfaces show the results of diagonal saw cuts in from corners. This is also seen on the base.

No mention there of the rectangular column's measurements.

Here are some more snaps of the original, taken with my phone.

The others

As mentioned, there were nine versions of this piece and the example at St Ives is no. 9 of 9.
I aim to find the others. The Tate catalogue entry mention a book, Alan Bowness (ed.), The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth 1960-69, 1971 and I'll try to get a look later this week at the V&A library.

Until then, I'll try the auction houses.

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No.1

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No.2

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No.3 Was sold at Sotheby's, London in June 2005 For £36,000 (est. £20k-36k)
and at Sotheby's, London in December 2008 For £44,450 (est. £35k-45k)
failed to sell at Sotheby's, London in June 2014 (est. £80k-120k) [I think that was #3]
and sold at Sotheby's, London in November 2014 for £56,250 (est. 50k-70k).

PROVENANCE
Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich, where acquired by Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York, 1964
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Their sale, Sotheby's New York, 12th November 1988, lot 455
Private Collection, Belgium
Their sale, Sotheby's London, 21st June 2005, lot 390
Private Collection
Their sale, Sotheby's London, 10th December 2008, lot 74, where acquired by the present owner

Images from  invaluable, MutualArt, both thought to be #3.

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No.4

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No.5

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No.6

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No.7

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No.8

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Notes
Sotheby's seems to have sold the same one (#3) four times, or rather three times and one failure.
Christie's has not sold one.
MutualArt only has #3 being sold going back to 1998.

Dimensions

Taken from the Tate page,

Square Forms was made of seven elements projecting from a rectangular column screwed to a square base and selectively patinated green. There are five overlapping squares which, like the base, each measure c.89mm (3 1/2 in.); the base is 23mm (7/8 in.) thick, the planes c.5mm (3/16 in.). The core of the cluster is held by a vertical rectangle (equivalent to a square and a half) held in the column in a mortise joint. Behind it, a small rectangle (half a square) lifts up a square (the third from the front); another square (the fourth), immediately behind, is let into a shallow joint cut away from the top back edge of the column. The other squares are stacked up and displaced upwards or to the side. They are simply riveted together face to face (Tate Gallery Conservation Files); rivets are discernible in the overlap between the highest square and that below. Apart from the column, all the main surfaces show the results of diagonal saw cuts in from corners. This is also seen on the base. Breon O'Casey has recalled that, as an assistant, he trimmed the squares off the bases of an edition of bronze sculptures; Hepworth recognised their potential and salvaged the off-cuts (interview with the author, 16 Oct. 1996). An edition of nine was issued; they were cut and riveted individually rather than being cast.

Links

Tate page - Dimensions - The Build - The Others - Linked Pieces - Sources

Intro

We first visited St. Ives for the Marlow Moss exhibition curated by Lucy Howarth in 2013.

Square Forms, Green Ted

When we returned for a brief visit this week the Tate was closed (and, it is rumoured, will be for another year) but the Barbara Hepworth Museum was open. Perhaps the smallest piece on show was Square Forms 1962: although it is probably not my absolute favourite, standing just 13½ inches high, pound-for-pound it is her best work.

Unlike most of her bronzes, rather than being cast, this was made from offcuts from larger pieces riveted together - nine were made and presumably there are differences between them.

I intend to write about it in this blog and make a couple of facsimiles: in wood, not bronze; one black and another in primary colours.

It sits on a shelf over a fireplace in what was once Hepworth's workshop and living room (she also slept there, but it cannot be described as a bed-sit). She died there too in the fire that killed her, probably started by her last cigarette. The photograph includes Green Ted, fellow sculpture enthusiast and travelling companion.

One of the books on sale at the museum had a detailed description of the work and I have found that online. The entry suggests a number of topics to pursue:

• Dimensions
• The Build
• The others - the example on show is number 9 of 9 made: I'll aim to find the others
• Linked pieces - (i) there are some larger versions by Hepworth and (ii) the Tate page also mentions a Nicholson work.

and, no doubt, others will arise.