Four-Square (Four Circles) (On long loan to THW from the Hepworth Estate)

A high resolution image of Four-Square (Four Circles) by artist Barbara Hepworth. This sculpture typifies the re-emergence of geometric forms and piercings from Hepworth’s 1930s work, but with an emphasis on colour and visitor interaction. Bridget Riley writes that Four-Square (Four Circles) ‘signifies a return to a more disciplined approach, tightly-argued trains of thought. Locations and dislocations providing for the greater engagement of the viewer.’

Hepworth made a monumental version of this work, Four-Square (Walk Through), and wrote to Nicholson, with whom she had remained friends, ‘so much depends, in sculpture, on what one wants to see through a hole! […] I don’t care whether they end up spiral, oblique or straight through. It is the physical sensation of piercing & sight which I want. I like to be free & at the moment I have 20 “collared doves” flying through 4 giant holes in my “walk through” sculpture. I just love it.’