A bronze sculpture entitled Two Forms (Divided Circle) by British sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) has been installed in the East Lodge Garden of Downing College. The sculpture, completed in 1969, belongs to the Hepworth Estate and is on indefinite loan to the College.
The loan has been made possible by Downing Alumnus and Honorary Fellow Sir Alan Bowness, the artist's son-in-law, and his daughter Sophie Bowness, a member of the Advisory Board for the College's Heong Gallery; both Sir Alan and Sophie Bowness are Trustees of the Hepworth Estate.
The Hepworth Estate chose Downing as a suitable home for the renowned sculpture because of its accessibility to the public and an impressive visual arts programme since the opening of the College’s Heong Gallery in 2016.
Caruso St John, the architects behind the gallery’s RIBA award-winning design, worked with the College and the Hepworth Estate to select a site for the sculpture, and its position in the East Lodge Garden has been carefully chosen to be visible from both windows of the gallery and from the Agora, the space in front of the College's library.
Professor Geoffrey Grimmett, Master of Downing, said, "We are immensely proud to welcome Barbara Hepworth's extraordinary Divided Circle to Downing. This well known work brings a new quality to our already remarkable landscape, and it underlines the College's potential for art and culture of the highest significance. We are most grateful to the Hepworth Estate, and notably to Sophie and Sir Alan Bowness for their support of our ambitions."
For more information on the artist and the Hepworth Estate, please see the Barbara Hepworth website.
More information on The Heong Gallery.
Published 3 September 2018.