Turning Forms

Last updated

Turning Forms (BH 166) is a concrete sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, one of her first public commissions, made in 1950 for the Festival of Britain. It was one of two Hepworth commissions for the Festival: the other was a sculpture of abstract standing figures, Contrapuntal Forms , now in Harlow. Turning Forms has been sited at a school in St Albans since 1953. Both of Hepworth's sculptures were listed at Grade II in 1998.

Like most sculptures for the Festival of Britain, Contrapuntal Forms was commissioned by the Arts Council, but unusually Turning Forms was commissioned and paid for directly by the Festival board, at the instigation of the architect Jane Drew, to complement her design for the Thameside Restaurant. Hepworth made the sculpture in collaboration with Drew, unusually adopting a Constructivist style reminiscent of the work of Naum Gabo, such as his later kinetic sculpture Revolving Torsion . Hepworth returned to a similar theme with a similarly-named drawing in 1957, held by Kettle's Yard in Cambridge.

Turning Firms is an abstract work which stands 84 inches (210 cm) high. It comprises twisting loops of concrete, painted white, supported by a metal armature. The armature was fabricated in Plymouth and coated with a lightweight core of vermiculite then finished with layers of concrete added and shaped by Hepworth at her studio in St Ives. The surface finish is a white "Snowcrete" Portland cement, covered with a layer of white "Snowcem" masonry paint, both products from Blue Circle.

The sculpture was exhibited outside the Thameside Restaurant at the Festival of Britain in 1951, near Waterloo Bridge, mounted a motorised plinth that slowly completed a rotation in two minutes. The sculpture was acquired by Hertfordshire County Council: at the time, the Council had embarked on an ambitious programme to build new schools, and acquired artworks to decorate them: for example, a cast of Henry Moore's Family Group is on display at Barclay Academy in Stevenage. Hepworth's sculpture has been sited at St Julian's School, now The Marlborough Science Academy, in St Albans since its opening in 1953.

It was removed temporarily for conservation in October 2000, and then exhibited at the Hepworth Wakefield from May to November 2021 alongside Contrapuntal Forms for the first time since 1951, before returning to the school.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakefield</span> City in West Yorkshire, England

Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider City of Wakefield metropolitan district, which had a 2021 population of 353,368, the 23rd most populous district in England. It is part of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area and the Yorkshire and The Humber region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Hepworth</span> English artist and sculptor (1903–1975)

Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Nicholson</span> British abstract painter (1894–1982)

Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM was an English painter of abstract compositions, landscape and still-life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Hepworth Museum</span> Sculpture museum in Cornwall, England

The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives, Cornwall preserves the 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth's studio and garden much as they were when she lived and worked there. She purchased the site in 1949 and lived and worked there for 26 years until her death in a fire on the premises in 1975.

Eva Rothschild RA is an Irish artist based in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Moore</span> English artist known for sculpture (1898–1986)

Henry Spencer Moore was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.

The Marlborough Science Academy is a secondary school and sixth form with Academy status, located in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It has a specialism in science.

Denis Adeane Mitchell was an English abstract sculptor who worked mainly in bronze and wood. A prominent member of the St Ives group of artists, he worked as an assistant to Barbara Hepworth for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hepworth Wakefield</span> Art Gallery in West Yorkshire, England

The Hepworth Wakefield is an art museum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born and educated in the city. It is the successor of the municipal art collection, founded in 1923 as Wakefield Art Gallery, which spans the Old Masters to the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllida Barlow</span> British artist

Dame Phyllida Barlow is a British artist. She studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) and the Slade School of Art (1963–66). She joined the staff of the Slade in the late 1960s and taught there for more than forty years. She retired in 2009 and is thus an emerita professor of fine art. She has had an important influence on younger generations of artists; at the Slade her students included Rachel Whiteread and Angela de la Cruz. In 2017 she represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.

<i>Sea Form</i> (Atlantic)

Sea Form (Atlantic) is a 1964 bronze sculpture by English artist Barbara Hepworth. It measures 204 cm × 107 cm × 73 cm.

Three Forms is an abstract sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, completed in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Brown (sculptor)</span> English sculptor

Ralph Brown was an English sculptor who came to national prominence in the late 1950s with his large-scale bronze Meat Porters, commissioned for Harlow New Town, Essex and is known for his sensual, figurative sculptures.

<i>Winged Figure</i>

Winged Figure is a 1963 sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth. One of Hepworth's best known works, it has been displayed in London since April 1963, on Holles Street near the junction with Oxford Street, mounted on the south-east side of the John Lewis department store. It is estimated that the sculpture is seen by approximately 200 million people each year.

Veronica Maudlyn Ryan is a Montserrat-born British sculptor. She moved to London with her parents when she was an infant and now lives between New York and Bristol. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Prize for her 'really poetic' work.

<i>Single Form</i>

Single Form is a monumental bronze sculpture by the British artist Barbara Hepworth. It is her largest work, and one of her most prominent public commissions, displayed since 1964 in a circular water feature that forms a traffic island at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, outside the United Nations Secretariat Building and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. It is also the largest artwork cast by the Morris Singer foundry.

Meridian is a bronze sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth. It is an early example of her public commissions, commissioned for State House, a new 16-storey office block constructed at 66–71 High Holborn, London, in the early 1960s. The sculpture was made in 1958–59, and erected in 1960. When the building was demolished in 1990, the sculpture was sold and moved to the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens in Purchase, New York.

<i>Contrapuntal Forms</i> (Hepworth)

Contrapuntal Forms is a stone sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, one of her first public commissions, made in 1950–51 for the Festival of Britain and installed outside the Dome of Discovery on South Bank, London. It was one of two Hepworth commissions for the festival: the other was an abstract rotating sculpture, Turning Forms.

<i>Four-Square</i> (Walk Through) Bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth

Four-Square is a 4.3 metres (14 ft) high bronze sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth. It was cast in 1966 in an edition of 3+1. The four casts are displayed at the Barbara Hepworth Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, Churchill College, Cambridge, and the Mayo Clinic.

<i>Three Obliques</i> (Walk In) 1968 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth

Three Obliques is a 1968 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. Three casts exist; two are in private collections and a third is displayed outside the Cardiff University School of Music in Cardiff, Wales. It is cast in bronze on a monumental scale.

References

Coordinates: 51°44′20″N0°20′56″W / 51.73900°N 0.34901°W / 51.73900; -0.34901