
The Rodin Museum is all set to exhibit the works of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth from November 05, 2019 to March 22, 2020. This veteran artist revolutionized the sculpture art with a new aesthetic sensibility. Her abstract works are filled with poetic purity. The Musée Rodin’s exhibition devoted to Hepworth will present her void and solid sculptures.
The exhibition will be a continuation of Tate Britain’s show, “Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World”. The Musée Rodin Paris is collaborating with Britain’s Tate gallery to execute this creative show. Note that Hepworth was greatly honored in Britain, and the Queen named her the “Dame of the British Empire”. So, if you are planning a trip to Paris between November and March, make sure to visit Rodin Museum Paris to see some compelling artworks that can be cherished for a lifetime.
A New Aesthetic in Sculpture
After Auguste Rodin, a different form of sculpture art came into existence. In the early 1900’s, the French artist Aristide Maillol restored the density to the freestanding figures he sculpted. Since 1909, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi took that revival of the sculpture art’s basics to its highest refinement level. In 1920s, the work of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore brought the next development in sculpture art.
Distancing herself from Auguste Rodin’s powerful expressionism, Hepworth sought a fresh aesthetic that reflected the language of physical form and volume. Her sculpted volumes have a poetic style that is inspired by the plants and natural world. Her natural sculptures also represent her perspective on the post-First World War society. Clearly, this new artistic sensibility conveyed a peaceful impression.
Machines inspired the artistic vocabulary of Hepworth, founded on pathos, and this contrasted with the sculpted works of other artists. In 1934, Hepworth wrote that “to project into a plastic medium some universal or abstract vision of beauty” was her aim. Without any doubts, her art aimed for an ideal world, as she herself said, to “swallow despair”.
The artist’s sheer love for the artworks that she sculpted is well conveyed. In fact, it looks like she is trying to extract a unique harmony from the intrinsic features of each block. Furthermore, she reinvented the plaster sculpture art by carving the material by hand to make her monumental works post the Second World War. To know more about the artworks and working style of this gifted artist, pay a visit to the Rodin Museum.