''Single Form'' (BH 325) is a monumental bronze sculpture by the British artist

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

. It is her largest work, and one of her most prominent public commissions, displayed since 1964 in a circular water feature that forms a traffic island at the

Headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, outside the

United Nations Secretariat Building The United Nations Secretariat Building is a skyscraper within the headquarters of the United Nations in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It contains the offices of the United Nations Secretariat, the executive organ ...

and the

Dag Hammarskjöld Library The Dag Hammarskjöld Library is a library on the grounds of the headquarters of the United Nations, located in the Turtle Bay/East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is connected to the Secretariat and Conference buildings ...

. It is also the largest artwork cast by the

Morris Singer Morris Singer is a British art foundry, recognised as the oldest fine art foundry in the world. Its predecessor, Singer was established in 1848 in Frome, Somerset, by John Webb Singer, as the Frome Art Metal Works. The Singer Art Foundry was famou ...

foundry. Copies of a smaller version, ''Single Form (Memorial)'' (BH 314), are on public display outside the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of the ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and in

Battersea Park Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies marshland reclai ...

in London. The version in Battersea Park was granted a Grade II* listing in January 2016.

Description

The sculpture is a largely flat, irregular shape, broadly oval, pierced near the top by a circular hole. The flat surfaces are pitted and scored with three intersecting lines – one broadly vertical, and two broadly horizontal – on each face, reflecting its casting in separate pieces. In 1970, the art critic

Edwin Mullins Edwin Mullins (born 1933) is a British art critic, novelist, and television presenter. Among his books is a monograph on Georges Braque. His television series include ''A Love Affair with Nature'' (Channel 4, 1985)Mullins, 1985. Introduction, page ...

suggested: "it is a torso, it is a profile with an eye, it is an expanse of space in which the sun rises, it is a blade, it is a human hand ... raised flat in a sign of authority, or of salute, or as a gesture of allegiance". In 1974 the art critic

Dore Ashton Dore Ashton (May 21, 1928 – January 30, 2017) was a writer, professor and critic on modern and contemporary art. Biography Ashton was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 21, 1928. She was the author or editor of more than thirty books on art, in ...

suggested it is a "vision of the cosmos".

Background

The work was commissioned by the

Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

as a memorial to the UN Secretary General

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

after his death in an air crash in Africa in 1961.

Jacob Blaustein Jacob Blaustein (September 30, 1892 – November 15, 1970) was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and diplomat who founded the American Oil Company with his father Louis Blaustein. Blaustein was an ardent supporter of human rights, the ...

had served as the United States delegate to the United Nations. Hammarskjöld was a collector of Hepworth's works, including her 1937–38 sandalwood sculpture ''Single Form'' (BH 103) which he displayed in his United Nations office (now in the Dag Hammarskjöld Museum at

Backåkra Dag Hammarskjöld's farm Backåkra (), close to Ystad in southern Sweden, was bought in 1957 as a summer residence by Hammarskjöld, then Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961). The farm was in decline and its restoration came to last ...

in Sweden). He had discussed with Hepworth the possibility of her being commissioned for a work at the United Nations Headquarters. She may have started work, expecting a commission, before Hammarskjöld's death: the commission was formally ratified by the United Nations in September 1962.

Sculpture

Hepworth had started work that led to the bronze in 1961. ''Single Form (Chûn Quoit)'' (BH 311) was cast in bronze in an edition of seven in 1961, with its shape marked with an inscribed circle. Her similar wood sculpture from 1961, ''Single Form (September)'' (BH 312), in figured walnut, has a circular depression on one face near the top. It is owned by the Tate Gallery and displayed at the

Barbara Hepworth Museum The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives, Cornwall preserves the 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth's studio and garden much as they were when she lived and worked there. She purchased the site in 1949 and lived and work ...

St Ives, Cornwall St Ives ( kw, Porth Ia, meaning "Ia of Cornwall, St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commerci ...

. Hepworth was working on the walnut sculpture when she received news of Hammarskjöld's death in September 1961, and named it after that month. Another related work is Hepworth's 1961 bronze ''Curved Form (Bryher II)'': a similar shape, pierced with a hole, with copper strings; an example was sold at auction at Christie's in 2013.Sale 1122: Modern British Art Evening Sale, 10 July 2013
. Christie's. christies.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018. She moved the depression, which became a hole, in the larger high ''Single Form (Memorial)'' (BH 314) bronze from 1961. ''Single Form (September)'' and a plaster model of ''Single Form (Memorial)'' were included in the Hepworth exhibition at the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

in May–June 1962. (The year before, Hepworth had completed ''

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

'', and was working on ''Maquette (Three Forms in Echelon)'' for the John Lewis store on Oxford Street, which became ''

Winged Figure ''Winged Figure'' (BH 315) is a 1963 sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth. One of Hepworth's best known works, it has been displayed in London since April 1963, on Holles Street near the junction with Oxford Street, mounted on the sout ...

''.) The first completed bronze of ''Single Form (Memorial)'' was included in the open air sculpture exhibition at

in 1963. This first cast was shipped to the US in October 1963 and retained by the Blaustein family until 2005, when it was donated to

and displayed at the

A second cast was made in 1963, bought by

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

for 6,000 guineas and installed at

in 1964, where it remains on the south shore of the lake. It measures . Hepworth doubled the size of ''Single Form (Memorial)'' to create a full-size armature at the Palais de Danse annex to her studio in St Ives in early 1963, in wood covered with plaster. The full-size sculpture was cast in seven pieces and assembled at the

foundry in London, the lines on the surface reflecting its casting. It measures high and weighs . It was erected in New York in May 1964, standing on a granite plinth near the edge of a circular pool of water, about in diameter, with a fountain, which had been built with a $50,000 gift from the children of the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands; it was unveiled on 11 June 1964.

Notes

References

''Single Form''
barbarahepworth.org.uk
Sculpture Unveiled at United Nations Headquarters Honours Dag Hammarskjold
unmultimedia.org, 11 June 1964

February 2005
''Single Form'' (Chûn Quoit)
barbarahepworth.org.uk
''Single Form (September)''
barbarahepworth.org.uk
''Single Form (September)''
Tate Gallery
''Single Form (Memorial)''
barbarahepworth.org.uk * {{coord, 40.74915, -73.96880, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title 1964 establishments in New York City 1964 sculptures Bronze sculptures in New York City Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Wandsworth Headquarters of the United Nations Turtle Bay, Manhattan Monuments and memorials in London Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in London Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth United Nations art collection

Description

Background

Sculpture

See also

Notes

References