Although her personal life and situation made developing sculpture hard, her first drawings and sculptures from Cornwall contain her effort to link with her adopted landscape.

Sculpture With Colour (oval form) Pale Blue and Red 1943 BH119

These were mainly of string and wood. The Stings held together the wood and plaster coils (see Pelagos 1946, Wave 1943 BH122, Landscape Sculpture 1944 BH 127). There is a mechanical tension, the curved wood and taught string, a mirage of the potential energy of a drawn bow. I have read that during these initial years in St Ives, Ben Nicholson (by then a very established abstract Constructivist painter) and Barbara were living on very limited means. The art markets had collapsed due to the war, and bringing up their triplets had put great pressure on their marriage, Barbara was left to cope. Does the tension in the forms reflect Hepworth's desire to let her creative force out?

Pelagos 1946 BH 133

I also see the thinness of the components that make up the form to reflect the knowledge we gleam from a place when we first view it. Hepworth describes her landscape with reference to Pelagos (1946) :

Large and Small Form 1945, BH 128

At this time I think she was getting accustomed to her new landscape. The marine environment - appears vast; the contrast between the sea and sand, the known, the stable land (the positive form) from the unstable and dynamic temperament of the sea, light and atmosphere (the negative space).

Next Part: Changing Influences

1. Introduction
2. Cornwall
3. Changing Influences
4. Adapting Materials
5. The Finale
6. My Reaction
7. Bibliography