Construction (Crucifixion)

Construction (Crucifixion)
1966–7
Aluminium, part painted, on a painted wooden plinth
391 × 471.3 × 92 cm
Presented by the artist’s daughters, Rachel Kidd and Sarah Bowness, through the Trustees of the Barbara Hepworth Estate and the Art Fund
Photo: Jonty Wilde.

Construction (Crucifixion) relates closely to two contemporaneous paintings – Construction I of 1965 and Construction II of 1966. Hepworth wrote, ‘I’d been experimenting with colour in relation to bronze, and I wanted to go free and hang up a circle. Why shouldn’t I? It seems to upset people: I find it very serene and quiet. […] I had been very ill, and I wanted to do it – it had been boiling in my mind.’

Construction (Crucifixion) relates to the strengthening of Hepworth’s Christian faith. The prototype was constructed in aluminium (L section, sheet and tubing) in the Palais de Danse workshop by Hepworth and her assistants. Paint was applied directly onto the aluminium. Two construction drawings survive, with colour notes (‘Citrus Yellow’, Post Office Red’ and ‘Cornish Blue’).