Art Review, by Regina Hammer

Dame Barbara Hepworth 1093-1975
Concentration of Hands 1948 oil on panel

The picture attracted my attention because it reminded me at first sight of the drawing of a relief representing a procession on a classical Roman sarcophagus. The picture represents five people, surgeons and nurses during their work, after an operation. Their eyes are concentrated on an object lying in front of them which is not in the picture. I could well imagine that they are focussing their eyes on their patient who has died. Their eyes are vacant and they looked utterly exhausted. With the operation masks that cover more than half their faces they seem to have lost their individuality. They are only operators. Barbara Hepworth, as we learn from the caption, was a well known sculptor. She was allowed to take sketches during surgery. She worked out well and in a very plastic way the hands of the surgeons and their eyes. A certain scratching and scraping technique makes the figures look even more like sculptors. The dominating colour is ochre.