The Liberation of Form
BARBARA HEPWORTH until august 20th
The exhibition “The Liberation of Form” at the Lehmbruck Museum shows selected works by the British sculptor Barbara Hepworth and brings them into dialogue with works by pioneers of the avant-garde and contemporary positions. It presents Hepworth’s significant contribution to abstraction, with which her work has been influential in shaping style. Discover now the unusual formal language of an artist who shaped the European avant-garde with her elegant, organic sculptures.
01 – Abstraction
How does one liberate form? Can one hear the screeching of gulls in the marble? And how are holes made in the sculpture?
Abstraction is more than an artistic form of expression. It is a mind-set. In the early 19th century, artists began to disengage their work from the pure depiction of external reality.
02 – LANDSCAPE
Can one hear the screeching of gulls in the marble? Can the rhythm of the waves be captured with wood? And what role does the horizon play?
Seashells, seagulls, waves, wind and steep cliffs: In 1939, Barbara Hepworth moved with her family to the small coastal town of St Ives in Cornwall. The pulsing metropolitan life of London was replaced by the rough beauty of the Cornish coastal landscape and the expanses of the hinterland.
The close connection with nature, which had endured since her childhood in Yorkshire, intensified during this period. Hepworth found fresh inspiration in the new environment with its wild landscape.
03 – FEMINISM
Is sculpture a male preserve? Is there a female perspective? And who is actually Henry Moore?
Barbara Hepworth is a pioneer and a thought leader. As one of only very few female artists of her time, Barbara Hepworth successfully asserted herself in the then mostly male-dominated realm of sculpture.
04 – Present
How relevant is the art of Barbara Hepworth today? What links her with contemporary artists like Claudia Comte, Tacita Dean and Nevin Aladağ?
Barbara Hepworth’s works are timeless. She influenced not only the European avant garde with her elegant, organic sculptures.
Her intensive dealings with the material, her great interest in the relationship of human being and nature as well as her joy in experimentation are only a few aspects that also repeatedly inspire contemporary artists to occupy themselves with her work.