Pressure of work; I couldn’t get to the Hepworth on the day,
so I combined a visit to Leeds, the day after, with a shimmy off the M1 to the
Hepworth in Wakefield. The wind
scallywagged some leaves as I crossed the bridge from car park to gallery, but
there were great, sturdy sheaves in the sky, with sprays of back-light fanning
between them.
Inside, with only a parcel of time to spare, I concentrated on Hepworth’s work, sculptures only, which should have felt as if something was being missed, but didn’t. I prepared by looking online at some of Barbara Hepworth’s ‘hospital drawings’, which, though none are on display at The Hepworth, are wonderful.
Inside, with only a parcel of time to spare, I concentrated on Hepworth’s work, sculptures only, which should have felt as if something was being missed, but didn’t. I prepared by looking online at some of Barbara Hepworth’s ‘hospital drawings’, which, though none are on display at The Hepworth, are wonderful.
Inside, I viewed two rooms of Hepworth’s sculptures, but
must admit the one called ‘Totem’ took the bulk of my attention. You can see
one view of it at
Totem
Totem
though, to be honest, I’ve got three better snaps on my
mobile.
White marble, and stands about 5ft tall, roughly 1.5 in what we don’t think in. From one aspect, it’s an eagle, perched high, still. Feral, not threatening, but observing like a sentinel, all-seeing, against intervention. It has a mouth, which speaks not to welcome but to record the things it sees. From another aspect, it is human, but cowed, close to being defeated, and this view takes me back to the previous one to see if the eagle I saw wasn’t, in fact, human. Which it was.
White marble, and stands about 5ft tall, roughly 1.5 in what we don’t think in. From one aspect, it’s an eagle, perched high, still. Feral, not threatening, but observing like a sentinel, all-seeing, against intervention. It has a mouth, which speaks not to welcome but to record the things it sees. From another aspect, it is human, but cowed, close to being defeated, and this view takes me back to the previous one to see if the eagle I saw wasn’t, in fact, human. Which it was.
From another aspect, the one you get when driving from
Chapel-en- la Frith to Tideswell, they’re outdoors, and stand severally in the
green slopes up to Wall Cliff, grazing fields shorn of their ruminants, but
making good explanations of the shadows.
From another, it’s a Tawny Owl, white ruff something of halo, landing on a fence post at the Dukesbank Plantation, on the road south into Bakewell.
From another, it’s a Tawny Owl, white ruff something of halo, landing on a fence post at the Dukesbank Plantation, on the road south into Bakewell.
Richard Dillon
Tawny Owl. It's Tawny. I knew that...
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