The first impression when I saw Barbara Hepworth sculptures for the first time at the beginning of your exhibition presentation, was spiritual, rooted deeply inside me and the first thought was, her art was definitely influenced by the art of Henry Moore. And then I thought that they were probably inspired by the same source that inspires me too, and that this source can only be natural and not social, otherwise I wouldn't feel that deep connection with their art. So I stopped watching and searched on Wiki where they were born and I found that she was born in Wakefield West Riding of Yorkshire in 1903 and he in Castleford in 1898, five years and nine kilometers away, bingo! Because I live in the Karst area, I quickly got an intuitive impulse of what that inspiring denominator could be. The natural forms of limestone exposed to acidic water are very reminiscent of their sculptures, so I looked for Karst areas in England next. What I found is that Yorkshire Dales National Park is partly located in West Riding of Yorkshire, which includes a vast area of exposed limestone formations. Some formations are reminiscent of Henry's sculpture forms, such as the one in the picture (google "Adopt an Acre: Winskill Stones, North Yorkshire"), bingo! It is interesting that most of his art is public works of art like limestone formations are. The next thing that interested me was how many English sculptors were directly inspired by Karst formations, so I found a list of 161 sculptors on Wiki ( I don't know any) and looked at their works. Based on my observations, I didn't find any sculptor on this list who was directly influenced by Karst like those two were, but there are quite a few who were inspired by the works of Henry and Barbara, of course. What I find surprising is that Barbara's art had a greater impact on English modern art than Henry's art, if I consider only the art of these selected sculptors. Even more surprising for me is that I can see Popular culture as the last stage of evolution of Barbara's artistic style. For me this is shocking, so far, I have completely rejected the art of Jeff Koons, who has no direct relationship with Barbara's art as much I know, much less with the Karst, but any stage of evolution of the art style has its weight. I will have to update my perception on Popular culture thanks to you :) Henry Moore influence Barbara Hepworth Glynn Williams Alan Thornhill Garth Evans Ronald Rae Thomas Houseago Joseph Kendrick sculptor Paul Lewthwaite Barbara Hepworth influence David Worthington Nicolas Moreton Barbara's influence - contemporary Sam Shendi Gary Webb (artist) Nicholas Pope (artist) Mark Handforth Nick Hornby (artist) Barbara's influence - erotic David Reekie Allen Jones (artist) Antony Donaldson Alice Channer Barbara's art influence - Geometric pattern stye Peter Randall-Page Barry Mason (sculptor) Max Patté Anthony James (artist) Charles Hadcock Chris Drury (artist) David Annesley Not influenced, I like this two very much so I added them Lynn Chadwick David Nash (artist) The true nature of Karst is erotic, where soft water carves hard rock in a way that expresses the imagination and passion of erotica (not all Karsts have the same expression, but for sure the same nature ;). The spiritual component reflects only when man perception is highly developed, like in the case of Henry's and Barbara's artwork, and the Jeff Koons's rabbit is just a sex. The three completely different worlds that have the same roots. Keep doing great work, it would be nice to include some artists from this list in your future exhibition presentations (from contemporary or erotica influence), to add some more depth to my thesis, you are the best👌
Thanks for your comment and for sharing these fascinating insights. Yes the limestone in the area is definitely a key inspiration. I will keep a lookout for exhibits of works by these artists you mentioned.
Thank you very much for your sharing, but I hope that in the process of sharing, you can say what you think the meaning of the specific works is, rather than describing the works。Your understanding of the work of art is what people care about more
