Ascending Form (Gloria)

Ascending Form (Gloria)
1958
Bronze
195 x 53 x 50 cm
Donated by Eric and Jean Cass through the Contemporary Art Society 2010 © Bowness.
Photographed on display in The Hepworth Wakefield Garden, May 2022. Photo: Jason Ingram

The two diamond shapes in Ascending Form (Gloria) can be seen as representing natural forms, with the one growing organically out of the other, or as a reference to hands coming together in prayer.

Both interpretations have resonance with Hepworth’s art, which was engaged with the natural landscape but also conveyed a sense of spirituality – particularly in the period following the death of her first son in 1953.

One of her most frequently recurring subjects was the standing form, which she related to the feeling of a human figure in the landscape.