The Hepworth Wakefield now holds the entire set of graphic works on paper by Barbara Hepworth, thanks to the Hepworth Family Gift made through the Art Fund and the support of the Friends of Wakefield Museums and Art Galleries.
Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969 and 1971 using screenprint and lithograph techniques. She explained how she used these processes to work on ideas which would eventually translate into sculpture, achieving an abstract sense of space, form and texture through the use of transparent smooth layers and bold mark-making.
Two sets of lithographs were produced with the Curwen Press, London. Many of these works, including a series called The Aegean Suite (1971), developed Hepworth’s fascination with Greece and make links between geometric forms and sites associated with ancient Greek culture.
Opposing Forms (1970) was produced by the artist’s gallery Marlborough Fine Art, London. Many of these works deal with more celestial subject matter and include abstract representations of the sun and moon, the movement of the tides and passing of the seasons.
