The gallery in Stromness, Orkney, was established in 1979 by Margaret Gardiner (1904- 2005), a close friend and patron of Hepworth's, and the title of the work suggests that the artist had the romantic landscape of Gardiner's Orkney home in mind when she named it. The sculpture consists of two carved slate stones arranged on a lacquered wooden base as if in conversation with each other. One stone is pierced and the other is carved with a smooth concave circle. Hepworth issued nine bronze casts of the sculpture, an indication of the importance she attributed to it. Gardiner was a major collector of Hepworth's work, and in the late 1970s she donated her significant collection of British Modernist art to the Pier Arts Centre and people of Orkney. The gallery's holdings include several Hepworth carvings from the 1930s, which will be enhanced by the addition of this later piece. Two Forms (Orkney) was last exhibited at the 1968 Hepworth retrospective at the Tate, since when it has remained in private hands. As part of the Pier's public collection it now stands as one of the most prominent works by the artist in Scotland, and as a testament to the friendship of two remarkable women.

This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.

Provenance

Miss Iva Dundas, London and St Ives, 1968; Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 1986 where acquired by present owner