DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH (1903-1975)

Conceived and cast in 1965, Trophy (flight) was a commissioned sculpture by Air Commodore Whitney Straight, C.B.E., M.C., D.F.C., in order to recognise the achievement and status of women in aviation. An aviator, grand-prix racing driver, and decorated war hero, Straight became a businessman specialising in operating airfields and chairman of the Royal Aero Club in 1945. He loaned the award to London’s Royal Aeronautical Society in 1967 where recipients of the annual prize (including pilots Anne Burns and Yvonne Pope Sintes in 1967 and 1974, and engineer Peggy Hodges, O.B.E. in 1970) received the trophy and a cheque for £200.

Cast in a small set of two, plus one artist’s cast, the present work holds unique historical significance and is a wonderful demonstration of Hepworth’s rich, highly polished bronze sculptures. The carved plaster of the present work is held in The Hepworth Wakefield collection, gifted by the artist’s estate.

We are grateful to Dr Sophie Bowness for her assistance with the cataloguing apparatus for this work. Dr Sophie Bowness is preparing the revised catalogue raisonné of Hepworth’s sculpture.