Barbara Hepworth: The Hospital Drawings, taking place at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, (16 February - 2 June 2013) reveals the remarkable series of drawings and paintings made by Barbara Hepworth during the late 1940s, illustrating surgeons at work in operating theatres within Post-War Britain. Featuring over 30 works, including Hepworth’s sketchbook, the exhibition is the most significant presentation of this extraordinary series to date, comprising key loans from national, public and private collections. The Hospital Drawings offer a unique insight into a little-known aspect of one of Britain’s best-loved sculptors - Hepworth’s skill as a draughtsperson - revealing how drawing was an important means of exploring forms that influenced her practice as a sculptor. In contrast to the pure abstract work for which Hepworth (1903 –1975) is celebrated, the drawings also reveal Hepworth’s aptitude for narrative realism. Through her friendship with Norman Capener, the surgeon who treated her daughter, Hepworth was invited to witness a variety of surgical procedures at Exeter and the London Clinic, and over a two year period (1947 - 49), she produced around 70 works within the series. (Image Credit: Barbara Hepworth, Concentration of Hands II, 1948, Private Collection (c) Paul Bowness, Hepworth Estate. Image courtesy of Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert)