Barbara Hepworth

Estate of the artist
Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London
Acquired from the above in 1985

Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth: A Pictorial Autobiography, Bath, 1970 (illustration of another cast on the inside & back covers)
Barbara Hepworth (exhibition catalogue), Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1970, no. 24, illustration of another cast p. 29
Alan Bowness, ed., The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth 1960-1969, London, 1971, no. 485, illustration of another cast pl. 186

The sculpture is in very good condition. The patina is a deep warm brown tone. The string is in good condition and appears to be original. There are a handful of small spots to the surface of the patina which appear to be surface dirt and would benefit from a clean. The patina would also benefit from a polish to return it to its original polished surface condition. There is minor surface dirt to the creases and crevices between the sculpture and the base. The work presents very strongly in person.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Barbara Hepworth began working in metal in 1956, starting with twisted sheets of copper, used in works like Forms in Movement (Galliard), conceived the same year and then moving onto working in bronze on varying scales. The use of sheets of metal created a strong sense of linearity: a quality the sculptor sought out at this stage in her career. The medium soon became her primary mode of expression—its strength allowed for greater versatility in her work while considerably broadening the range and complexity of her sculptural motifs.  

During the 1960s Hepworth increasingly merged the organically-derived forms of her earlier carved sculpture with more geometric, architecturally conceived compositions. This was both a natural evolutionary process but also a response in part to a series of public commissions in the late 50s and 60s which re-focused her attention on the architectural setting of her works. She continued to work on a variety of scales, from the monumental Winged Figure (1963) (see fig. 1) to the present work which falls into the category of "arm" sculpture—as the artist liked to classify those fitting into the span of one’s arms. Winged Figure was commissioned for the Oxford Street facade of department shop John Lewis in London. While on a different scale, standing at almost six meters tall, much like Disc with Strings (Sun), it is constructed in metal and string-like stainless steel rods which intersect and twist across the surface. The string in the present work is both a reference to cotton fisherman’s string, sourced locally near Hepworth's studio in St Ives and to the work of fellow artist and friend Naum Gabo who began using delicate plastic filaments in his plexiglass sculpture around the same time as Hepworth. Discussing this technique Penelope Curtis observes that she “suddenly found an entirely new way of 'opening up'; indeed these new pieces were so open that they rather described a line in space, like a drawing, for they had no material interiority... the strings seemed to pull this thin tensile material into shape" (Penelope Curtis, Barbara Hepworth, London, 1998, p. 39).

Disc with Strings (Sun) has a counterpart in Disk with Strings (Moon) also conceived in 1969. While the strings of the latter meander from left to right at a slight angle suggestive of cloud drift and the gentle shimmer of lapping waves, in the present work they twist with dynamic elemental energy and seem to pull the two halves of the disk together. 

The sculptor wrote: “We are so placed here, geographically, that both sun and moon rise and set over the water with a great radiance and this fact sets up a remarkable tension in my everyday life…the forces between the ever-changing position of the sun and moon, and the effects upon sea and tide, and cloud and wind, which change the depth of shadow on forms here have governed my life for a long time” (Barbara Hepworth, A Pictorial Autobiography, Bradford-on-Avon, 1977, p. 81).