Zennor (sculpture)
Star objectsOwnership/credit: Purchased with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of RAMM.
Licence: In copyright
Descriptions
This abstract bronze sculpture was created by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), a leading figure in Modernism and in the St Ives group of artists. Of ovular form, almost pebble-shaped, the sculpture is smooth and dark in colour. The inside is pierced, revealing an abstract-shaped hole in the centre, and features a patina. The sculpture stands on a wooden plinth, which is monographed ‘BH’ and numbered ‘1/7’ on the verso.
Hepworth’s interest in pierced forms and abstract shapes began in her marble carving work of the 1930s, when she fell in love with British Modernist painter Ben Nicholson. Visits abroad together enabled them to be inspired by artists such as Mondrian, Picasso and Gabo, who were also experimenting with cubism and geometric forms in their art. This influence is clear in this particular work.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Hepworth and Nicholson settled in St Ives, Cornwall, with their three children. Here, her work developed alongside other Modernist artists who had also sought refuge in Cornwall during the war, and she experimented with other materials. Bronze casting featured heavily in her work from the 1950s. Titled ‘Zennor’, the present piece was likely inspired by the village of the same name, a few miles from her home in St Ives.
This object is not on display.
Inscription
verso plinth artist’s monogram BH
verso board label printed edition number 1 of 7 1/7
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This object was selected by a member of the LGBTQ+ community to feature in an interactive in Making History gallery.
“I have chosen a bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. It has a hole in the middle, and it has a very different texture, and so there’s this opening that almost makes you want to discover the object and look inside. The reason I’ve chosen it though is because it’s called Zennor, and that is a place that I have a very strong connection with, so it’s really that link to Zennor, which is a very small place in Cornwall. There is a writer called H.D., who was an American poet, and another writer called Bryher – this is obviously a pseudonym that they chose, they named themselves after one of the Scilly Isles. H.D. and Bryher were in a lifelong open polyamorous relationship, and they met in Zennor. You can imagine them meeting and talking about their work and falling in love in that space and going on this beautiful coastal walk. … I like this idea of almost an unexpected opening that gives you access to something that you might not previously have seen as something that is for you or that belongs to you, and so for me it is an unexpected opening up of a relationship that I can have to the South West through that queer history. Any object might have a queer or trans or non-binary history or resonance, and we just need to have the knowledge, we just need to have the information and background knowledge to reframe those objects.”
For the full transcript and sound piece follow this link.
https://outandabout.exeter.ac.uk/zennor/