WORK OF THE WEEK: Barbara Hepworth, Disc with Strings (Moon), 1969

Barbara Hepworth
Disc with Strings (Moon)
1969
Aluminium and strings
1ft 7 ⅛ x 1ft 6 ⅛ x 3 ¾ ins
48.5 x 46 x 9.5 cm
Ed 2/9
BH 484

Disc with Strings (Moon) was completed by Barbara Hepworth in 1969, the same year man landed on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission. This sculpture was informed by Hepworth's fascination with technological developments and the widening of our understanding of the universe, particularly in the case of the development of aviation. Disc with Strings (Moon) combines Hepworth’s concerns with the experience of the natural world and the modernist relationship to scientific development.

Hepworth is able to suggest at once both the visible and dark side of the moon. The highly reflective, brushed aluminium glows with cool luminosity. The circular form is bowed in the centre allowing one half to appear brighter, one darker. The strings seem to ripple across the surface like overlapping waves, reminiscent of the relationship between the moon and the tides in Hepworth's beloved town of St. Ives.

'One moonlit night, I wandered into the garden. In the pale, clear, silver light, the sculptures presented quite different aspects of their being from any which I had seen before [..] they have so many moods and faces.'

Barbara Hepworth speaking to Mervyn Levy, 1962

In Disc with Strings (Moon), both sides are pierced with a circular hole; one of Hepworth’s signature forms, allowing light to flow through akin to the moon through the night sky.

An edition of the work was first exhibited in Hepworth's solo exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, London in 1970. It was displayed with its pendant work, Disc with Strings (Sun)(1969) made from polished bronze. The contrasting warmth and coolness suggest the axial relationship between these two works and their corresponding celestial bodies.

Pallant House, Chichester will be opening an exhibition of Barbara Hepworth on the 21st November 2026, focusing on a period of her work that has rarely been explored - the impact and connection of Greece on her oeuvre. Barbara Hepworth and Greece will reveal how a journey through Greece and its islands in 1954 renewed her artistic vision at a crucial point in her life.