Barbara Hepworth: ‘a work of mine in your house’

In 1968 the founder of Kettle’s Yard, Jim Ede (1895-1990) wrote to the sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) to enquire what works of hers were currently available to purchase. They had known one another since the thirties, when they were both living in Hampstead, London. In her reply, Hepworth couldn’t help but observe the belated nature of Ede’s request. She described how, ‘nobody was more aware than I of your generosity & love & inspiration in face of lack of money & yet with the exquisite presentation of real beauty for all to share’, but confessed, ‘in my heart I longed to have a work of mine in your house & in the lovely company of paintings by Ben Nicholson, Winifred, Kit, Wallis & so on’.

The eventual result of their exchange was the long-awaited purchase by Jim Ede of a sculpture by Hepworth. This was her Three Personages (1965), which Ede placed prominently in the new extension to Kettle’s Yard that had been designed by their mutual friend, the architect Sir Leslie Martin, working with David Owers. Since then, several other works by Hepworth have entered the Kettle’s Yard collection, including several bequeathed by her close friend, the composer Priaulx Rainier (1903-1986).

This display brings together those works by Hepworth not ordinarily on permanent display in the Kettle’s Yard house, along with a painting by Alfred Wallis (1855 – 1942) that was previously in Hepworth’s collection and works by two contemporary artists (Ann- Marie James, born 1981, and Catherine Yass, b. 1963) who have been inspired by Hepworth’s sculpture. Archive material in the display includes letters that document the friendship between Hepworth and Ede, and demonstrate the respect they held for each other’s particular talent in placing and presenting artworks, despite not always seeing eye-to-eye.