2 great Exhibitions From The Tate, Britain

Barbara Hepworth

Sometime since I'd visited Tate Britain and as I knew that a couple of new exhibitions had opened since my last excursion decided a Friday afternoon would be an ideal time.

A super double bill at the Tate Britain

Glad to say that the crowds were very manageable - seems less of a draw that Tate modern but since the 'refresh' it is an absolute delight.


There were plenty of people in the first Exhibition but  I still enjoyed the  Hepworth show.

 Barbara  really was far more than a female Henry  Moore (perish the thought)  - very clear though that the influences of many figures were at work in her Art.

To me as well as Epstein and Moore the influence of Georges Braque  and of course Nicholson was apparent as was that of Eric Gill (his Eve of 1928 was on display).

A geometric job

I hadn't realised the breadth of work that she was involved in - this included fabrics as well as her own  'media image'

Looking Moore-ish Figure for Landscape

Early torso's reminded me of the Surreal nude figures of Magritte.

Interesting too to see how she moved from figurative to abstract and worked with so many materials (Wood, Stone and Bronze) unlike some artists she was intimately involves with the physical endeavour involved in the craft with the 'Direct Carving'.

Out of so many artefacts my  favourite though would be Infant (1929) in Burmese wood also taken with Orpheus used by electronics company Mullard in their branding.

The show was nicely curated with a timeline from an artistic magazine  of the time that helped contextualise what else was going on and reminded me again of the odd figure of Marlow Moss  the UK's version perhaps of Piers Mondrian.

Fighting History

Brilliant use of curating skills.

Something that I might probably would have  overlooked if I wasn't a friend of the Tate (and this means that entrance too all exhibitions is included)   is a show like Fighting History.

It reminded me of what the BBC  at its best does - it introduces and reintroduces you to things and makes you look at things with fresh eyes.

Millais is there (Boyhood of Raleigh) as is Turner and Sickert (an artist whose works I enjoy increasingly) and for contemporary balance we've got Jeremy Deller.

The works are given space and the pace here was relaxed with about the right number of people attending, the accompanying notes along with the annotation/signage was superb too.

Footnote:
Odd that I was haunted by Duane Hanson during my visit testimony to how the works at The Serpentine  impacted me.

And oddly unreal

Strangely real