'Tides I', Dame Barbara Hepworth

Artwork details

Artist

Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903‑1975)

Title

Tides I

Date 1946

MediumHolly

Dimensionsobject: 337 x 632 x 298 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Presented by Ben Nicholson OM 1975

Reference

T02008

Not on display

Display caption

This sculpture belongs to a group of oval wood carvings dating from the mid-1940s. The splits in the wood occurred while the work was in progress, and so the artist abandoned it unfinished. Nonetheless, the sculpture embodies a strong empathy with the Cornish landscape which inspired it, and with the material used: 'I believe that the understanding of the material and the meaning of the form being carved must be in perfect equilibrium.' There is another, smaller version, 'Tides II', which was executed in the same year. This sculpture was presented to the Tate Gallery by Ben Nicholson in the year of Hepworth's death.

September 2004