§ ◆ DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH D.B.E. (BRITISH 1903-1975)

§ ◆ DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH D.B.E. (BRITISH 1903-1975) FIGURE AND MIRROR, 1948 signed and dated in pencil (upper left), inscribed and titled (to reverse), pencil and gesso on board (45cm x 34.5cm (17.75in x 13.6in)) Provenance: In Barns-Graham's notes about her collection she states she owns one drawing by Barbara Hepworth given to her as a wedding present. Exhibited: Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London, Barbara Hepworth Drawings from the 1940s, 12 October-18 November 2005; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, St Ives: Movements in Art and Life, 14 March to 19 September 2020. Footnote: When Barns-Graham arrived in Cornwall, less than a year after Hepworth and Nicholson, she was already very well aware of the central figures of British Modernism she was about to meet in person. Having attended the lectures given in Edinburgh by Herbert Read, as Watson Gordon Professor in Fine Arts, she had become acquainted with the key apologist of the Movement. When they met again in Little Park Owles this no doubt helped her quick acceptance by the group. Willie’s first meeting, just days after her arrival, with Barbara Hepworth made a lasting impression on the young artist. She noted in particular Hepworth’s physical appearance, the delicacy of her features and her quick, neat movements. As the years passed she and Hepworth had a friendship based partly on the fact of their shared experience of being woman artists in a man’s world. In the small Cornish artists’ enclave both women could be resented by their fellow male artists. By sheer strength of personality, determination and growing reputation, Hepworth succeeded better at overcoming the prejudice and pit falls. Willie was not so adept. But when each woman found themselves living alone, they were glad of each other’s presence in the town. Hepworth’s drawing Figure and Mirror, of 1948 was gifted to Barns-Graham on the occasion of her marriage to David Lewis in 1949. He had arrived in St Ives as a young author and aspiring poet who, having added a quickly achieved and not inconsequential knowledge of contemporary art, became a part of the artistic communities of St Ives and Carbis Bay. Among a succession of practical roles, he acted for a time as Hepworth’s secretary.Figure and Mirror was not the only Hepworth Willie acquired. Around 1949 she purchased from her friend Mary Buchanan, Sculpture with Colour (Deep Blue and Red) 1940. Some ten years later, at a time of personal turmoil and loss, she sold it to a dealer, from whom Hepworth herself reacquired it. Upon Hepworth's death, it was bequeathed to the Tate. Essay by Lynne Green, author of W. Barns-Graham: a studio life, and Trustee of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.