Barbara Hepworth [antikvár]

IntroductionThe first world war did not leave artistic life in England unaffected. Slowly, laboriously, it emerged from the rarefied atmosphere of fin dc siecle art, which, in this insular society, still prevailed as late as 1914.In Chelsea this style of art had been associated with the names of Whistler, Wilde and Henry James, while in architecture Voysey and Mackintosh - to leave Morris and his circle out of the discussion for the moment - had introduced a new look, both indoors and out, which was echoed on the Continent. Figures of such diverse talent as Sargent and Sickert represented the world of painting. One has only to read the diary and correspondence of a man such as Ricketts to realize how richly differentiated yet art-minded in a picturesque sort of way, how refined yet creatively debilitated, artistic and society life were right up to and, indeed, well into the twenties. Add to this - though it should really have been mentioned first - the Bloomsbury group, where the tone in art and criticism was set by Roger Fry, and of which Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard, Clive and Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and others were the luminaries, and this highly cultivated scene would seem to leave little to be desired. Yet that little proved to be of vital importance. The preoccupations of the period were determined by the Shannon-Ricketts mood of nostalgia for the past, by the definitely more forward-looking Bloomsbury group and, where art was concerned, by post-impressionism. Fry introduced Van Gogh and Cezanne, gave the English a glimpse of the Negro art of Africa, organized exhibitions in 1911 and 1913 which featured cubism - but as a painter he did not break new ground, while as a critic, though discriminating, he was not truly identified with the aspirations of the younger generation, with cubism, futurism and pure abstract art.2 Barbara Hepworth, Trewyn Studio, St lues, February igsg