About Barbara Hepworth

I am being encouraged to pursue my writing and get on with a book about artists: Here's my take on Barbara Hepworth and my photos taken down in St Ives, Cornwall:
By the 1930s career possibilities for women both sides of the Atlantic changed as they had gained the right to vote and to retain land ownership after divorce. Until that time the options for young women were usually very limited; agree to marry and follow normal protocol, or lead an independent lifestyle of their own choice and risk permanent exile.

When Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz married in 1923 she retained her surname and this was a smart decision professionally, but also very unusual for that time.

Barbara Hepworth, the twentieth century British sculptor, also retained her own surname. She was twice married to artists, had triplets in 1934 and still produced an impressive range of works that have stood the test of time by remaining popular and public.

About Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was an ambitious and extremely talented French sculptor in the early twentieth century. Biographers have suggested that she was a huge inspiration to Auguste Rodin but while they were lovers his career blossomed and Claudel’s stuttered.

It would seem that the passionate affair between them created a great amount of tension both public and private and it was creatively stimulating for them both until their relationship changed. She became less understanding and supportive of Rodin’s accelerated success. Severe paranoia developed and this may have been triggered by unflattering comparisons being made between Claudel’s work and his.

 

Work by Camille Claudel - French Sculptor

Weaknesses for men and alcohol

In 1997, the year of Tracey Emin’s entry to The Turner Prize, Gillian Wearing’s video of unmoving women police officers won over the judges. Emin was short-listed for the winners’ podium but failed to win. Evidently, however, it was Emin’s seemingly drunken antics in post award television coverage that appealed to the masses. The Press headlined her name and face and these have attracted its attention ever since. Perhaps it could be said that the contrast between her plausible weaknesses for men and alcohol made her work attractive and marketable to the publicists.

Ever-lasting fame

Innovators Hepworth and O’Keeffe appear to have achieved ever-lasting fame with their talents continuing to receive regular attention. It would seem unlikely that many female artists of the twenty-first century will achieve comparable impact despite numerous prizes and accolades. Their art may not be destined to retain its current appeal, stay in long-term competitive focus or retain its status as a good investment.

If Tracey Emin is not a particularly talented artist, just someone who is opportunist, ambitious and extremely motivated by the unexpected fame, this does not seem to be hampering her snowballing success.

While so much of her artwork continues to become almost general knowledge this exposure of her vulnerabilities actually seems to help perpetuate her career.

What seems to have defined her style more than anything is that the artwork spells out messages that are simple and more importantly, blunt.

The Turner Prize - what is art?

Since it began about twenty-five years ago, one popular annual British award for contemporary artists Britain has only had three women winners. Some more serious-minded critics and many aspiring artists dismiss The Turner Prize, as it is called, as pretentious and unrepresentative of the art it claims to reward. It does appear to succeed, however, in offering a wide range of people the regular opportunity to ask what constitutes art.

Women winners:

60 minutes of Silence 1997 - Gillian Wearing

Veeke 2005 - Tomma Obts 

House 1993 - Rachel Whiteread

Gallery Curators

Evidence appears to show that the latest collections of art in exhibitions in Europe and America are still being selected with reference to the sex of the artists. Perhaps women artists are not winning major prizes because they fail to submit their work, remain unknown because of favouritism or they simply cannot afford to promote their work efficiently. Alternatively it could be that they are being by-passed in the selections made by the curators who are still, in the majority, men.

Brainwashed women

American journalist Friedan wrote at length that tradition had been responsible for actually almost brainwashing women. They have strived, she claimed, to be the perfect wife, mother and daughter and many have broken down in the process because the traditions never updated the myth to admit that it might be unachievable. Back in their homes women in charge of domestic matters appeared content to live their lives vicariously through other family members.

Betty Friedan - The Feminone Mystique

Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, a 1960s study of the troubled, idealist housewife:

The identity crisis in men and women cannot be solved by one generation for the next; in our rapidly changing society, it must be faced continually, solved only to be faced again in the span of a single lifetime. (Friedan, B. 1992: 330)

Anne Seymour Damer - much ridiculed 18th Century Sculptor

The 'Grand Masters'

Female artists may have to struggle to flourish as professionals because of assumptions made in deference to the ‘Grand Masters’, the legendary painters and sculptors of centuries ago. Associated conventions dictated that since only men could be talented enough to produce the finest art, lady artists might be tolerated but consistent or serious effort could be scorned and satirised without further justification.

Anne Seymour Damer was a British sculptor, from the mid-eighteenth century, who voiced objections to the absurdity of women artists being denied access to nude models. The cartoon shown here was published in 1789 and mocked her artwork to compromise her reputation.

Apparently the main suggestion was being made that such artists were corrupting younger women and guilty of inappropriate behaviour. Damer was an ideal target for such ridicule that was, presumably, generated not only criticism of her private life but subsequent negative publicity for her work. She lived separately from her husband when he had left her and later he committed suicide.

The Introduction

Ambitions and efforts to flourish as artists may have been thwarted in every generation. Perhaps most particularly for women the pressure of family and extended family commitments has compelled many artists to give up their dreams.

Conventions and restrictive peer pressure to behave responsibly may not be as relevant now to aspiring women artists. This subject really interests me so, in due course, I am going to offer an insight into whether past and existing obstacles and frustrations still adversely affect the prospects of female artists more than their male counterparts in the pursuit of professional success.

Views from the museum and around St Ives, Cornwall

 

In Cornwall, the Tate St Ives Gallery maintains the museum set up in Hepworth’s long-term home and studio space. The grounds were landscaped for her work and other sculptures were exhibited indoors in accordance with the wishes and directions of the artist. The last but one photograph shows Pierced Form that is sited in public area of St Ives. Hepworth is noted as having made an effort, even in her final days of ill health, to finish her projects.