Wieneke Archive Book 4i : Art - General Presscuttings

3'ell 1 S thole Him been an viol tievelonnohl in the understand - or row, i..t) o)' arts Tills IF Ott tilt. p s' tit our "t -ti rut). of otIc i, t l'11111, of the taltt of others which enabled us to con- tinue. More and inure the man in the street has the chance to see contem- porary art. In such places as Batter- sea Park in London. in the Tate Gal- lery and in International Exhibitions, he has been able to enjoy sculpture in the open. He has begun to realize that sculpture can be a thing of joy, riot just a memorial on a plinth. or a memorial to the dead. A A In the main I II, my own inspira- tion conies from aan's recognition of the universe.. nave watched peo- ple a great deal. We all use phrases such as "being in touch," or "out of touch." When people come into my studio in Cornwall-those, that is, who are not so steeped in tradition that they can no longer "look"-it delights me to hear such people say: "May I touch?" and having touched: "I don't understand it, but it does make me think of so and so." They are RIWttyy right. We are in touch because they have picked up the evocation of an idea I had wanted to communicate. In the sculpture entitled "Wave." for instance, people have recognized the curve of the Cornish breakers, the music of the wind passing through the strings. -Curved Stone with Yellow- ennjures up the SPI1SC of being curled up in the shelter of sunlit el'rTs. To many the bronze seulptir , "Meridian." which stands outside State House in Holborn, I London, expresses the impetus of growth. 7'nis sculpture stands fifteen feet high,. Much has been done in recent years through radio to bring modern music to the people. The many groups who have built up collections from R stibseriber in South Wales: "...REALLY L-NIQUE PAPER..." . My warm thanks to eeryone conrerned with the Monitor for giving the world this really unique daily paper ..'. a RAMC of daily instruction, inspiration, hope. and joy." The Monitor is truly unique ... an international daily news. Paper. tool there . are many other things about it that are li'l'y much nut of the ordinary. \\ ant In find out for yourself? Monitor sulteription i the he -t ti;o to do this. Let The Christian hurl' Monitor put your world in fueu- .. every day. Send tour cheek or money order to the address below. THE CHRISTIAN SCI ENCE MONITOR The Christian Science Manila, One Norway Street Boston, Matnachusettit U.S.A. 021IS Please enter a aubacrlptIon to the Monitor for the period checked beton- I enclose 1 . . (US. funds). el I Year 121 CI Moo. 112 0 3 Mot. II Name Street city Stile ZIP Code In the SWIM Wes 1 year10.11.' MINS "(lacier I All rectum be 50511015 et the whit (CONCOURSE)": Marble soulpture by Barbara Hepworth of painting and sculpture and are taking them round the schools, ale promoting the most lively interest among children, are drawing pene- trating comments. There is a world of difference between seeing an mig- Mal and seeing a color reproduction. A A A I always wanted to be a sculptor. As a child I motored with my father all over the West Riding of York- shire. To my eyes every landscape became a sculpture. 1 had to be a sculptor because I had to use my hands to make an image. 1 rather think that seeing an image mentally before one begins is a special faculty. As a musician conceives his compo- sition from end to end in space and lime, so 0 sculptor sees in his mind the finished work, all the way round, before he begins it. My Yorkshire background was ementionsly vital. The paradox of flu lathes 3311111 Industrial towns springing out or the magnificent beauty of the West Riding, made one think philosophically about the re- lationship of man to his environ- ment, of the dignity and beauty of the human spirit which can trans- cend a drab environment and harsh economic conditions. To me a basic purpose of sculpture is to express the importance of man and his fun- damental unity with nature. Gesture, movement, rhythm, whether in hu- man behavior or in nature, are of vital importance. When at seventeen I was fortu- nate enough to win a scholarship to the Leeds School of Art I did not find myself in harmony with the school's traditional methods of tui- tion, but I did accept discipline be- cause I had to keep my scholarship. Nor was taw year spent there wasted. I learned a tremendous amount about movement, anatomy and structure, even though I did not put the knowl- edge to traditional use. At the Royal School of Art in Lon- don. to which my next scholarship took me just after the war, there was a tremendously vital movement. In addition to people like myself, almost straight from school, there were fully formed students hack from the war on army grants. Sev- eral of these proved to be major art- ists, among them Henry Moore. We made quite a group who really helped and sustained one another. We had a clear idea of our goal. But I do not think we were in any way aggressive. A A A A Traveling Scholarship to Italy was enormously important. Neither in Yorkshire nor in London had I really appreciated the relationship of light, of moon or sun, to forms. In the strong Italian light the subtleties of form, color and contour were in- tensified. I spent my entire year looking at and studying painting, architecture and sculpture in rela- tion to light. I also studied' the tra- ditional ways of carving marble, a stone not native to England. Once more I was in disgrace. Instead of coming back with traditional works; I did not produce a single piece. But that year. of looking-twat _makiva has remained a constant inspiration. ' Much later, in 1954, I went to Greece, There was no money to go earlier. Greece more than fulfilled my greatest hopes. There I found the extraordinary light which I had dis- covered in Cornwall. I also found the philosophical relationship be- tween num and his landscape, an un- derstanding and harmony, a main- tenance of the spirit which gives power to form. Form as an affirma- tive image is really the tactile as well as the visual, concrete, embodi- ment of man's poise in relation to the universe. In 1930 I turned away from real- ism because I was a carver and be- lieved in "direct" carving, that is in working straight into the block. When I found that I could thus carve freely, make forms which expressed my feelings, but which bore no re= lotion to anything but my own ideas about life itself, I realized that the whole conception and harmony of the idea was of paramount impor- tance. W hen in 1931 I pierced my first piece, I remember the great joy it gave me to find the depth and re- sulting expansion of the form and of "WAVE": Plane wood with color, by Barbara Hepworth the light entering it. I had achieved a complete sense of freedom for my own calligraphy. In a foreword to the catalog for an exhibition of any work in 1937, Professor J. D. Bernal likened some of my sculptures to the ancient stones and cromlechs of Cornwall. But at that time I had not been to Cornwall. When, just before the war, I caine here to live, the Cornish landscape linked up so many of my earlier convictions that it fused for me my childhood in Yorkshire with the inspiration of the light and philosophies of Italy and Greece. In the sculpture "Three Forms (Winter Rocks)," the stones are reminiscent of the groups of stone scattered about the moors, or a group of figures on the beaches. "Group I. Concourse," carved in marble, imagines the movement of a group of people com- municating with one another in a state of stability and understanding. A A A 'lb me one or the most exciting things about present-day sculpture is the expansion of the sculptural idea in the entirely visionary con- ceptions. in the use of many different materials. In addition to stone, bronze and wood, sculptors now Work in cement, slate, copper, steel, glass and even plastics. Just as the Italian Priniitives, by their percep- tive use of the very colors one now experiences on a jet flight, expressed their ideas of heavenly beauty, so I feel that contemporary sculptors are unconsciously realizing the affirma- tive images which our present so- ciety needs if it is to come to grips with the extraordinary developments in science and in space: if it is to meet the uneasy sense that we may not be able to hold our own. It seems to Inc that the post-war difficulties which architects have had to meet (the current sense of dan- ger) have produced in them, and in some artists, a trend toward a short- term policy, a pessimistic outlook. But I do feel that this can be over- come, indeed is now being overcome. The issue may well depend on the attitudes we adopt. Are we going to be rich, rich that is in ideas, or are we going to be obsessed by the fear of being poor materially? In the ex- pression of ideas there is no limita- tion. I believe most strongly that any sculpture made now should be valid in its form and ideas a thousand years hence. A sculpture should be an act of praise, an enduring expres- sion of the divine spirit. BARBARA HEPWORTH The three previous articles in this series appeared on April 13. May 25, and June 22. The next article, but Victor de Panty, will appear in August. An article nit Dante Barbara and her work appears in the Arts and Entertainment coltunns of this edi- tion. thought, list \'t in 1.1,11,.(.11) do you make y, household hm peace which which we ask Jesus knew Christ, which had drawn the: recognized the tug their spirit. nabitation of matter, but Mi most meet tIn Where God His beloved am, world cannot One and All, can and d. which are ino known to Hite' comprehend tm one with God . for him to sem too, was a p household. Christian Sin Baker Eddy di, is in cowl(' Bible. This stir occurs in her Health with K. (p. 254): "POI "Cut" T I In the field were particur in sculpture tended to be istic. Their great emoto sity rather This C11111e the later sr, superior, in inspiratia, Stnnerian skillful in a and plagur: bowls. It is All the while i'i' rain; We thought we stopped, and all the while we Still as the bayberry went from green to gray we took the step we had been talking of, Some linger slipped us from our soundless gro, some tongue urged what we could not hear it We thought we stopped. and all the while we like pears gold-going through a pungent gy,,, In time commuted as sweet grass we took the step we had been talking of for years. And on that hour when lightning .4t. our late location in, we were well away who thought we'd stopped. All earthly while, out of the aim of danger like the dove which looks a hawk, so free it swoop we took the step we had been talking I. 0 blest o modest motion - wits it love? - which made our breath keep steady past the a we thought it stopped, All, all the while it nim we look the step we haci been talking of.