MS 679 01 08 01

MS 679 01 08 01

Moelwyn Merchant archive: Autograph and typed letters from Barbara Hepworth to Moelwyn Merchant

File

1965-1974

4 folders with a total of 94 items

The correspondence covers Hepworth and Merchant’s friendship from their initially meeting regarding the possibility of Hepworth’s sculpture, ‘Figure for Landscape’ being lent to Exeter University. Early correspondence also includes letters from John Crowther and Associates to Merchant, who were making a plinth for the sculpture.

The subsequent letters, which are more personal in nature, continue to discuss Hepworth’s work and how she draws on her religious beliefs, as well as her praise for Merchant’s writings. The letters also discuss Hepworth’s declining health and her memorial wishes, which she intrusted Merchant to help carry out.

Letters dated 1967 refer to an interview Merchant conducted with Hepworth for the BBC

Letters dated 1968 to 1969 refer to the arrangements for her sculpture ‘Crucifixion’ to be installed at Salisbury Cathedral as well as referencing the 1968 exhibition of her work at the Tate Gallery

While most of the early letters are handwritten, the later letters are increasingly typed, but still signed. Some of the letters are sent from her secretary on her behalf

Some carbon copies of Merchant letters to Hepworth are also included in the files.