Cantate Domino

“O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” Thus begins Psalm 98 in the biblical book of Psalms. From the 1950s onward, Barbara Hepworth’s work took on a more spiritual slant in response to personal trauma and global crises. The artist said that human suffering motivated her to make each sculpture a hymn of praise. 

“My sculpture has often seemed to me like offering a prayer at moments of great unhappiness. When there has been a threat to life - like the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or now the menace of pollution - my reaction has been to swallow despair, to make something that rises up, something that will win”

In response to human suffering and death, Hepworth has created a hymn to the Christian god. The sculpture expresses the hope that we can overcome suffering, that there is life after death. The suggestion of germinating seeds reinforces the idea of the cycle of life, which begins again and again.

With her pierced abstract forms, British sculptor Barbara Hepworth brought innovation to the British art world. Until 1956, she worked with materials such as stone, wood, and marble, but after that she also experimented with bronze. In addition to smaller sculptures, she created a number of monumental works.