Dame Barbara Hepworth

(British, 1903-1975)

Group of Three (on a Pink Ground) 45.7 x 35.3 cm. (18 x 13 3/8 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, by whom gifted to
C.S. Reddihough, Christmas 1952

Exhibited
London, Lefevre Gallery, Sculpture and Drawings by Barbara Hepworth, October 1952, cat.no.20
London, The Whitechapel Gallery, Barbara Hepworth: A Retrospective Exhibition of Carvings and Drawings from 1927 to 1954, 8 April-6 June 1954, cat.no.162

Hepworth's two dimensional work during the mid-century period can be considered in three distinct groups; abstract, surgical and figurative. The present work fits within the latter group and, as the inscription indicates, was a Christmas gift to Cyril Reddihough in 1952. Works of this nature were ordinarily referred to by Hepworth as drawings although the diligent building up of the base surface (often gesso), application of coloured washes (pink in this instance), scratching out and painted details take them beyond the usual boundaries of this medium. They are carefully considered, meticulously crafted and wholly individual works in their own right which, whilst benefiting working ideas for sculpture, are not directly related.

Within her figurative groups and as can be seen in Group of Three, there is no suggestion of a fixed pose as Hepworth encouraged her models to move naturally with freedom. This can be seen in each of the stances adopted by the same model that has been used here with Hepworth capturing her at specific times as she might pause or come to rest. During the 1930s Hepworth had observed ballet dancers at work in the same manner that the great Edgar Degas had before her, their shared interest lying in movement and rhythm. The pencil lines in Group of Three are strong yet delicate with the lighter areas of board that have been rubbed back enhancing the forms who are themselves quite perfectly balanced. In contrast to the drawings from the later 1940s the forms are chunkier in appearance yet simplified, corresponding with the concern for multiform sculptures which had reached their culmination at this time in the three Groups of 1951-2.