The Hepworth Wakefield at London Art Fair

Key works by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and their contemporaries will feature in a unique exhibition at The London Art Fair entitled, Barbara Hepworth and the Development of British Modernism. The exhibition will feature a selection of exceptional works drawn from the gallery’s collection.

Amongst other works, Hepworth is represented in the exhibition by an early sculpture, Kneeling Figure, 1932. This key work not only demonstrates Hepworth’s skill as a carver and appreciation for materials, but in its primitive, simple style, can be seen as an early step towards the abstract language of form, which was vital to British Modernist sculptors.

Other artists included in the exhibition are Hepworth’s second husband Ben Nicholson alongside their artist friends such as Henry Moore, with whom Hepworth studied at Leeds College of Art and later the Royal College of Art, London.

Also featuring are artists associated with St Ives, the artists’ colony in Cornwall where Hepworth and Nicholson moved before the outbreak of World War ll. This pioneering group includes Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron and John Wells among others.

Entrance to Barbara Hepworth and the Development of British Modernism is included with a valid London Art Fair ticket or invitation. The Hepworth Wakefield is the museum partner for the event, held 15 – 19 January 2014 at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London. The exhibition is sponsored by Hiscox.

Installation photograph, Hepworth Family Gift Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield.
Photograph: Iwan Baan