Tibia Graft, 1949 (oil & pencil on paper)

In 1947 Hepworth was invited to observe an operation at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Exeter by the surgeon Norman Capener, who had treated her daughter Sarah during a severe illness a few years earlier. Hepworth produced nearly 80 works as a result of subsequent visits to operating theatres in both Exeter and London. She was drawn to the craft of the surgeon in which she recognised so much of her own work as a sculptor. The work highlights her skill as a draughtsperson and the ongoing importance of drawing from the figure as a means of developing her language of abstract forms.