Curved Form (Pavan)

A high resolution photograph of Barbara Hepworth's sculpture Curved Form (Pavan). This sculpture was made in the year that Hepworth returned to casting in bronze, a practice she had not regularly used since her youth. Although made in plaster, the material has been ‘metallised’ to give the illusion of bronze.

By building up plaster on a metal armature, Hepworth was able to create flowing forms, perhaps to retain what she described as ‘the qualities of molten material’. The subtitle 'Pavan' refers to a stately court dance of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and indicates Hepworth’s lifelong passion for dance and music.