Barbara Hepworth at the Tate. Filmed during the Barbara Hepworth retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, 3rd April 1968–19th May 1968

General views of exhibition showing, among others, Four Square (Walk Through) (1966), Configuration (Phira) (1955), and Dual Form (1965); Barbara Hepworth’s VO describes her feelings about her work and her career. Views including Oval Sculpture (Delos) (1955), Corinthos (1954-1955), and Construction (Crucifixion) (1966). Hepworth talks VO about being "basically and primarily a carver", coming to work in metal only after thirty years of using other materials. She says that she conceives the final form of a piece before beginning to produce it. Medium and small sculptures, in a variety of materials including Infant (1929), Figure in Sycamore (1931), Torso (1932), Two Forms (1938), Group III (Evocation) (1952), Two Segments and Sphere (1935-1936), and Three Oblique Forms (February) (1967). Her VO describes their common features. Group I (Concourse) (1951) Three Personages (1965), Talisman II (1960). Vertical Forms (1965), and Image II (1960). Hepworth VO on the relationship of figures in groups, and the interplay of light when using marble which enables the expression of a feeling of contemplation. Hepworth describes VO how serravezza, a particular kind of Italian marble, is crystalline and changes colour depending on who carves it. Three Forms Vertical (Offering) (1967). Figure (Nyanga) (1959-1960), which she describes as "pleading", a feeling created by form and material. Single Form (September) (1961), also in wood. Recurrent themes – the relationship between two forms, the oval, the group, the vertical form which, for her, resembles a human sentinel: Pierced Form (Toledo) (1957) and Two Personages (Menhirs) (1965). Rhythms are sensitive and subconscious. To achieve a particular rhythm for a whole piece require her to lock herself up for a day or wait for another time: Hollow Form with White Interior (1963) and Two Forms with White (Greek) (1963). Figure (Sunion) (1960), Sphere with Inner Form (1963): Hepworth’s fascination with the relationship between inner and outer forms, of a nut in its shell, of a child in the womb, etc. Oval Form (Trezion) (1961-1963) and Curved Form with Inner Form (Anima) (1959): Hepworth feels free to develop her responses to her own surroundings, being obsessed with the human response to life despite accusations that she is "puritanical, or cold, or geometric". Commentary ends here. Details of Four Square (Walk Through) and Curved Form (Delphi) (1955). Pieces from the 1930s and earlier: Mother and Child (1934), Large and Small Form (1934), Reclining Figure (1932), Contemplative Figure (1928), Sculpture with Profiles (1932). Oval Sculpture (Number 3) (1943, cast 1959); Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943). Figure (Chûn) (1960), Curved Form (Trevalgan) (1956), Construction (Crucifixion). THE END.

Commentary spoken by Barbara Hepworth;
Recorded by The British Council;
Photographed by Bruce Beresford;
Assisted by Cedric Pheasant,
Richard Saunders;
Edited by Trevor Craig;
Directed by Bruce Beresford;
Artistic Adviser Hugh Evans.
Made by the British Film Institute for the Arts Council of Great Britain