Barbara Hepworth's first monographic exhibition in Paris on view at The Musée Rodin

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Barbara Hepworth's first monographic exhibition in Paris on view at The Musée Rodin
Barbara Hepworth, Three Forms [Trois formes], 1935. Marbre. H. 21 ; L. 53,2 ; P. 34,3 cm. Tate / Barbara Hepworth © Bowness Photo © Tate.



PARIS.- The Musée Rodin is holding the first monographic exhibition on the work of British sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) in Paris, in association with Tate. Though little known in France, Barbara Hepworth — who frequented artists such as Henry Moore, Picasso and Mondrian — evolutionised sculpture with her development of a new aesthetic sensibility. Her abstract works, imbued with poetic purity, aspire to an ideal, peaceful world. The Musée Rodin’s tribute exhibition to Hepworth presents these sculptures, with their combination of solid and void; visitors who see these compelling artworks will find them hard to forget.

A NEW AESTHETIC: SCULPTURE FOR A MODERN WORLD
After Rodin (1840-1917), a different kind of sculpture came into being. Around 1905 in France, the sculptor Aristide Maillol restored density to his freestanding figures, and from 1909 onwards Constantin Brancusi took this revival of the basics of sculpture to its highest degree of refinement. The next development came with the work of the sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth in 1920s Britain.

Distancing herself from Rodin’s powerful expressionism, Barbara Hepworth sought a new aesthetic founded on the language of form and volume. The poetic nature of her sculpted volumes was largely inspired by the nature. Her organic sculpture also represents her world view: for post-World War I society, this new sensibility conveyed an impression of peace in opposition to the atrocities of recent years. Hepworth’s artistic vocabulary contrasted with the work of other sculptors, founded on pathos, based on construction or inspired by machines. In 1934, she wrote that her aim was to ‘project into a plastic medium some universal or abstract vision of beauty.’ The essence of her art lies in the play of convex and concave, the subtle contrast of solid and void. Beneath the silent exterior of solid forms, Hepworth’s art aspired to an ideal world, allowing her, in her own words, to ‘swallow despair.’

Hepworth’s aesthetic also stemmed from her love of material — which she carved directly, as if seeking to extract a singular harmony from the intrinsic characteristics of each block. After World War II, she worked the plaster by hand to create her monumental bronzes. The aim of the Musée Rodin’s exhibition is to provide an overview of her art and career and an insight into her working methods with a recreation of her studio environment.

THE REDISCOVERY OF AN OUTSTANDING ARTIST
Little known to the french public, Barbara Hepworth, although her significance as an artist, was recognised in her day. She and her husband Ben Nicholson frequented artistic circles in France, visiting Brancusi, Picasso, Braque, Mondrian and meeting Arp, Calder and Miro. From 1939 on, Hepworth worked in Cornwall, whose landscapes had a profound influence on her work. Hepworth was greatly honoured in Britain in her lifetime and was made a Dame of the British Empire. Discs in Echelon entered the MoMA’s collections as early as 1936, and her work was shown in a series of exhibitions: at the Venice Biennale, in San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Tokyo...

The Musée Rodin is one of the very few places in France to have exhibited Barbara Hepworth’s work in her lifetime, so it naturally fell to the same museum — which included her in group exhibitions over 60 years ago — to reintroduce her powerful and poetic art to the French public.










Today's News

November 11, 2019

Hermann Historica to offer outstanding and unique objects from antiquity to Art Déco

Gillian Jagger, sculptor whose medium was nature, dies at 88

£1 charity shop vase sells for £484,000

Denmark and Iceland clash over priceless mediaeval manuscripts

Gagosian opens an exhibition featuring works by H. R. Giger and Mark Prent

Marciano Art Foundation is accused of unfair labor practices

Shock in Russia as Napoleon expert confesses to chopping up lover

Like roads, many genetic lineages led to ancient Rome

Barbara Hepworth's first monographic exhibition in Paris on view at The Musée Rodin

Nationalmuseum acquires two self-portraits by Joseph Ducreux

Mitchell-Innes & Nash opens an exhibition of new works by Canadian-born artist Brent Wadden

Most comprehensive exhibition to date of works by Helga Paris opens at Akademie der Künste

A search for ancestors in the desert southwest

PAI's 79th Rare Posters Auction earns $1.7M in sales with resurgence of Art Nouveau

Exhibition offers compelling visual memoirs of four master illustrators' immigrant experiences

Exhibition at Pangolin London comprises a new body of sculpture by Ann Christopher

Elmhurst Art Museum presents 'What Came After: Figurative Painting in Chicago 1978-98'

Olympian Tommie Smith revisits protest legacy in new film and exhibition at the San José Museum of Art

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston opens the first solo museum exhibition of Will Boone

A Toronto bookstore amplifies outsider voices

Plácido Domingo withdraws from Tokyo Olympics performances

From comic book to the mat: chessboxing bout thrills French creator

A forgotten pioneer's art world is resurrected at the Jewish Museum

Rory Pilgrim wins 2019 Prix de Rome




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful