Barbara Hepworth, one of the most influential artists of her time, with one of her sculptures.
Barbara Hepworth is synonymous with Modernism, and the sensuous, abstract forms which dominate her work secured her reputation as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, and one whose art continues to influence and inspire today.
Hepworth is best remembered as a sculptor, but she also produced numerous drawings and paintings throughout her extraordinary career, and in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, she produced some experimental prints which are now highly-acclaimed. In fact, prints account for 51% of her work sold at auction, where they usually fetch between £1,000 and £5,000.
Below is a list of Barbara Hepworth’s five most expensive prints sold at auction. If you’d like to find out more about how much a Barbara Hepworth print is worth, or how to sell it, why not get in touch with Mark Littler today?
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The Aegean Suite
Hepworth had a longstanding fascination with Greece and the celestial, and both of those interests come together in this set of nine lithographs in colours from 1971, which was sold by Christie’s in April 2023 for £25,749. The prints combine abstracted suns and moons (motifs which Hepworth frequently used at this time) with geometric shapes the artist associated with Ancient Greece, allowing her to explore the relationship between space, light, form, and colour.
These prints were undoubtedly inspired by the time Hepworth had spent in Greece, thus reflecting her interest in how humans are affected by the landscape surrounding them. As she once said, “all sensitivity to landscape is in one’s ability to feel within one’s body: to feel with a primitive humility a response to life and location, a response to form, texture, and rhythm, and a response to the magic of light, both sun and moon everchanging.”
The Aegean Suite Sold By Christies in 2023
Opposing Forms
Unsurprisingly for a sculptor, Hepworth loved exploring different shapes and forms and experimenting with the interplay between them, once stating: “All my early memories are of forms and shapes and textures.” Though her primary medium was sculpture, Hepworth sometimes experimented with concepts and ideas on paper first, saying: “When I start drawing and painting abstract forms I am really exploring new forms, hollows, and tensions which will lead me where I need to go… Out of all these components I search for new associations of form and hollow and space, and a new tautness and awareness for the growth of new sculptures.”
The Opposing Forms lithographs are one such exploration, playing with the harmony and balance of different shapes – ideas and forms that later found their way into Hepworth’s sculptures. The prints are among the artist’s most popular in today’s market, and even individual prints from the series can fetch significant prices. This complete set of 12 prints was sold by Swann Galleries in May 2018 for £23,819.
Opposing Forms Sold By Swann Galleries in 2018
Twelve Lithographs
This set of lithographs in colours dates from 1969, and it was sold by Bonhams in December 2018 for £9,000, though even individual prints from this hugely-popular series sell extremely well at auction. Titles such as Mykonos, Argos, and Mycenae are testaments to Hepworth’s love of Greece, and others, like Autumn Shadow and Sun and Moon reflect her interest in light and the celestial.
Some of the prints (such as Porthmeor) are also inspired by the sea and landscape around St. Ives, which Hepworth called her “spiritual home”. Hepworth and her husband at the time, fellow artist Ben Nicholson, moved to St. Ives with their children at the outbreak of war in 1939. In the post-war years, St. Ives became a hub for modern artists, with Hepworth and Nicholson at its centre, and it was here that Hepworth tragically died in an accidental fire at her studio in 1975.
Twelve Lithographs Sold By Bonham’s in 2018
Green Man
The Green Man is a motif traditionally seen to represent the cycle of life, and it is often linked to nature and rebirth. In this way, the title of this print echoes Hepworth’s affinity with the natural world, and her delight in art which “springs from innate impulses towards life, towards growth.” Though it dates from just three years before her death, the print exudes life, vitality, and a desire to keep experimenting.
Green Man was sold by Bonhams in September 2021 for £4,800, and it is a perfect example of how strongly Hepworth was influenced by her natural environment; in her own words, “whenever I am embraced by land and seascape I draw ideas for new sculptures.” Since the landscape inspired so many of her works, it is therefore appropriate that many of her sculptures remain on display outside in public places to this day. As she once said, “I prefer my work to be shown outside. I think sculpture grows in the open light, and with the movement of the sun its aspect is always changing; and with space and the sky above, it can expand and breathe.”
Green Man Sold By Bonham’s in 2021
Three Forms Assembling
This lithograph in colours dates from 1968, and in many ways, it is similar to the Opposing Forms series created soon afterwards. Hepworth only really began printmaking in the last few years of her life, and though she was primarily a sculptor, she’d also been exploring 2-D abstract forms for many decades through her drawings and paintings.
As she said, “Abstract drawing has always been for me a particularly exciting adventure,” allowing one to get “lost in a new world of a thousand possibilities.” It is not unexpected, therefore, that Hepworth took easily to printmaking, or that her beautiful, timeless prints remain popular today; Three Forms Assembling was sold by Bonhams in March 2018 for £4,500.
Three Forms Assembling Sold By Bonham’s in 2018
