Sophie Bowness – författare

Barbara Hepworth's work and ideas are illuminated in her own lucid and eloquent words in this first collection of her writings and conversations. The book makes available much that is out of print and inaccessible, and includes a significant number of unpublished texts. A surprisingly large body of work, it spans almost the whole of Hepworth's artistic life, showing her innate gift for language and desire to communicate to the public. Alongside the writings are Hepworth's lectures and speeches, a selection of interviews and conversations with writers as well as radio and television broadcasts. The collection sheds new light on Hepworth's life, her working practices, the sources of her inspiration, the breadth of her intellectual interests and her deep engagement with contemporary politics and society. The illustrations include manuscripts and archive photographs from Hepworth's own collection.

Selected criticism, essays and lectures by Sir Alan Bowness, critic, art historian and former director of the Tate Gallery. With a foreword by Dawn AdesThis book comprises the selected writings of the eminent art historian, critic and museum director, Sir Alan Bowness (1928-2021). In the 1950s and early 1960s he was a regular and acute critic of contemporary art for Art News and Review, The Observer, The Spectator, Times Literary Review and the New York-based magazine Arts, among others. His reviews were often among the first substantial articles on the post-war generation of British artists, many of whom became his friends, and the first significant writings published in Britain on leading contemporary European and American artists. Many of these important but long out of print articles and essays are re-published here, as are others on the subject Bowness taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art from 1957 to 1980: nineteenth century French painting.Bowness left the Courtauld in 1980 to take up the post of director of the Tate Gallery. Under his leadership, the museum expanded its collection, deepened its commitment to scholarship, established itself as a major patron of contemporary art, not least through the Turner Prize which he initiated, and embarked on an expansion programme that led to the opening of Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and a new wing of what is now Tate Britain. His writings on museums (he also set up the Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives, and was involved with The Hepworth, Wakefield) and his reflections on criticism and reputation, also published here, remain especially relevant for the present era of mega-museums and art hype.

Celebrating the generous gift of Barbara Hepworth's plasters to The Hepworth Wakefield by the Hepworth Estate, this groundbreaking publication combines a fully illustrated catalogue of the sculptor's surviving prototypes in plaster, and occasionally aluminium, with a detailed analysis of her working methods and a comprehensive history of her work in bronze. In addition, insights into the building which will be home to the collection are provided through essays exploring the history of The Hepworth and, in a contribution by David Chipperfield, the design of the new museum by his architectural practice. A fascinating account of the sculptor's connections with Wakefield Art Gallery also features. The Hepworth's collection of over 40 unique, unknown sculptures are the surviving working models from which editions of bronzes were cast. They range in size from works that can be held in the hand to monumental sculptures, including the Winged Figure for John Lewis's Oxford Street headquarters. The majority are original plasters on which the artist worked with her own hands and to scale. Providing a unique insight into Hepworth's working processes, on which little has been written, Barbara Hepworth: The Plasters will enhance appreciation of her work as a whole. Drawing extensively on archival records and photographs, this publication is an important source for information about a significant collection of work, the gallery which houses it and Hepworth in general.

Celebrating the generous gift of Barbara Hepworth’s plasters to The Hepworth Wakefield by the Hepworth Estate, this groundbreaking publication, amended to bring the story up-to-date, combines a fully illustrated catalogue of the sculptor’s surviving prototypes in plaster, and occasionally aluminium, with a detailed analysis of her working methods and a comprehensive history of her work in bronze. In addition, insights into the building which is home to the collection are provided through essays exploring the history of The Hepworth and, in a contribution by David Chipperfield, the design of the museum by his architectural practice. A fascinating account of the sculptor’s connections with Wakefield Art Gallery also features.The Hepworth’s collection of over forty unique, unknown sculptures are the surviving working models from which editions of bronzes were cast. They range in size from works that can be held in the hand to monumental sculptures, including the Winged Figure for John Lewis’s Oxford Street headquarters. The majority are original plasters on which the artist worked with her own hands and to scale.Providing a unique insight into Hepworth’s working processes, on which little has been written, Barbara Hepworth: The Plasters enhances appreciation of her work as a whole. Drawing extensively on archival records and photographs, this publication is an important source for information about a significant collection of work, the gallery which houses it and Hepworth in general.