Winged Figure

Winged Figure
1961–2
Aluminium with aluminium rods and Isopon
587.5 × 254 × 159.5 cm
Presented by the artist’s daughters, Rachel Kidd and Sarah Bowness, through the Trustees of the Barbara Hepworth Estate and the Art Fund © Bowness. Photography Jonty Wilde

In 1963 Hepworth’s Winged Figure was unveiled, mounted on the side of the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street in London. This full-scale prototype for the sculpture is nearly six metres tall and forms the centrepiece of the collection of working models gifted by the Hepworth family.

Hepworth was a great admirer of the socialist ethos of John Lewis, a shop that was collectively owned by its workers, and she was attracted by the prominence of the site. The design was praised for embodying ‘the idea of resurgence or aspiration… long associated with the Partnership’.