In bright late summer sunshine, Barbara Hepworth’s famous sculpture Epidauros II has returned to its familiar plinth on St Ives’ Malakoff.
St Ives Art Tours’ Nicky Ferguson was with St Ives Local as the statue was replaced on its plinth. It will be a regular spot on Nicky’s tours during the St Ives September Festival
The work, a bronze completed in 1961, had been temporarily moved to the Penwith Gallery while civil engineering work was undertaken to create a new bus stop and waiting area at the Malakoff.
Now it is back in place, offering locals and visitors a framed view across St Ives Bay to the chalets at Hayle.
The move was undertaken by specialists Sculpture Transport and Installation, and it’s no quick process. The plinth and artwork were methodically prepared. There was a fixing component missing, but luckily a trip to Colenso’s Aladdin’s cave of hardware saved the day.
An elaborate gantry was erected and slowly the sculpture was raised from a wheeled carriage into the area, positioned over the plinth, and affixed.
Next on the specialist mover’s agenda in St Ives will be the return of Hepworth’s bronze Dual Form to the space outside the Guildhall. No date is set for that yet.
