Like Barbara Hepworth? Think #hepworthQA

Examining Barbara Hepworth through archives

Like Barbara Hepworth’s work? Visited the exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World at Tate Britain or Hepworth Wakefield recently and are intrigued to find out more?

Barbara Hepworth at work (catalogue reference: WORK 25/204 (2821))

Why not attend our free talk on Barbara Hepworth and selected archives on the 14 July at The National Archives with speakers from The Tate, Tate Archives and The National Archives?

The event will be a series of talks around the various archives on or related to Barbara Hepworth and will provide different insights into ways in which archives are crucial in our understanding of artists.

The series of talks will include:

• a commentary on various archive materials that has helped shaped the Tate Britain’s exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World such as photographs and photo-collages by Hepworth herself alongside images made by others under her direction
• an exploration of the contributions of Hepworth and other artists and their place in the Festival of Britain 1951 and the festival’s legacy for the arts
• an insight into the Tate Archives collection on the personal and professional papers of Barbara Hepworth

There will also be an opportunity to see a document display of selected original and facsimile documents from the collections of The National Archives and Tate Archive.

Live Q&A on Twitter after the event: use #hepworthQA

Get involved in our live Q&A on Twitter after the event at #hepworthQA on 14 July 16:15-17:00.

You may have thought:

• What kinds of archives exist on artists like Hepworth?
• How do curators use archives in exhibitions?
• How would I start researching artists like Hepworth?
• How would I use archives to learn about artists like Hepworth?
• What’s the most unusual record we have come across about Hepworth?
• How do art exhibitions come about?
• What did the Festival of Britain 1951 mean for artists like Hepworth?
• I want to know more about the social history of the 1950s and what it meant for artists like Hepworth?

Use the #hepworthQA to get your questions answered.

Barbara Hepworth (c 1927), TGA 200314/5/1/3. Document reference: Tate Archives. © Bowness, Hepworth Estate.

The following will be available to answer your questions on the live Q&A #hepworthQA:

• Co-Curator to the exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World Inga Fraser (who has written an essay on the Hepworth’s engagement with photography, film and performance for the exhibition catalogue)
• Morwenna Roche and Bianca Rossman catalogued the remaining personal papers of Barbara Hepworth (TGA 20132) and ‘Correspondence of Barbara Hepworth’ (TGA 965) in the Tate Archives respectively
• Collections Knowledge Manager Fleur Soper, is responsible for gathering and sharing knowledge of collections wherever these are held, and advising on good archival practice. Fleur leads the Archiving the arts initiative, to ensure that archives of the arts are well cared for, accessible and recognised as valuable by those who look after them and the wider public. Fleur has advised on arts archives held in many places, including the Penwith Society and Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
• Ann Chow from The National Archives, has carried out research into the arts related collections (including Barbara Hepworth) held at The National Archives and elsewhere and is developing cultural engagement activities including programmes related to art and design