Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Jonathan Jones

Hepworth in Colour review – salty Cornish seascapes compressed into immaculate sculptures

A white sculptural oval form with a triangular opening revealing blue interior and red strings stretched across
‘The rounded, white plaster objects are cut open to reveal deep blue interiors that seem immemorial’ … Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943. Photograph: Mark Heathcote/The Hepworth Wakefield

They say in St Ives that if you put your ear to a Barbara Hepworth sculpture, you can hear the waves breaking on Porthmeor beach. Well, maybe they do say that and maybe they don’t. But the sea definitely roars in the ravishing sculptures at the heart of this small survey of just one aspect of her work: her use of colour.

Hepworth’s favourite colours turn out to be – wait for it – blue and white, the colours of the sea: the white foamy breakers and the rippling waters that swaddle the Cornish fishing town where her home and studio are proudly preserved.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.