What is this Hepworth sculpture made of? The great British art quiz

Large and Small Form, 1934, by Barbara Hepworth, on display at the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney Photograph: © Bowness. The Pier Arts Centre

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from over 3,000 venues and by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions.

Today, our questions are set by the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney. The centre, in Stromness, is home to a fine-art collection donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner (1904–2005).

The collection of over 200 works includes works by major 20th-century artists Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, contemporary artists including Sean Scully and Eva Rothschild, and Orcadian artists Sylvia Wishart and Stanley Cursiter.

You can see art from the Pier Arts Centre on Art UK here. Find out more on the Pier Arts Centre website here.

1. 

   In what year was the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness founded?

   1. 2002

   2. 1925

   3. 1979

   4. 1904

2. 

   Cornish fisherman Alfred Wallis only began painting in 1922, when he was in his 60s, after the death of his wife. Which famous artist, along with Christopher Wood, first "discovered" him while he was painting in St Ives?

   1. Ben Nicholson

   2. Naum Gabo

   3. Alan Davie

   4. Margaret Mellis

3. 

   What material is the sculpture Large and Small Form (1934), by Barbara Hepworth, made of?

   1. White alabaster

   2. Cumberland alabaster

   3. Pink Ancaster stone

   4. White marble

4. 

   Scottish artist Ross Sinclair had a solo exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre in 1998 called A Dream of the Hamnavoe Free State. Where is Hamnavoe?

   1. Lerwick

   2. Hoy

   3. Stromness

   4. Kirkwall

5. 

   From the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness (Blue) is by which Scottish artist?

   1. Alison Watt

   2. Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

   3. Barbara Rae

   4. Elizabeth Blackadder

6. 

   What did a friend of Orcadian artist Sylvia Wishart draw on her window, prompting her to create a whole series of work including that same emblem?

   1. A tree

   2. A house

   3. A bird

   4. A cat

7. 

   How did artist Roger Ackling make the marks in the wood in his artworks?

   1. Oil paint

   2. Burned by directing sunlight through a magnifying glass

   3. Pencil

   4. Pyrography wire

8. 

   Of which famous Orcadian poet is this bust by artist Ian Scott?

   1. Iain Crichton Smith

   2. Edwin Muir

   3. George Mackay Brown

   4. Arthur Conan Doyle

Solutions

1:C - Margaret Gardiner, the founder of the Pier Arts Centre, was never happy to be called a collector, saying: "I hate being called a collector, for I never set out to collect." However, she gathered together, through friendship and astute patronage, a very personal collection of art that closely charts the development of British modernism. Image: Margaret Gardiner OBE, The Pier Arts Centre, 2:A - Wallis painted on whatever materials he had at the time, often using old boxes, wooden pallets and trays. Some paintings he even did on the back of other paintings such as Three ships and Lighthouse (Recto) and St Ives Harbour: White Sailing Ship (Verso). Image: Three ships and lighthouse (verso), c.1934-38, Alfred Wallis (1855-1942), The Pier Arts Centre, 3:A - Margaret Gardiner's interest in art was deeply influenced by her long friendship with Barbara Hepworth; through her, she came into contact with many of the principal figures in 20th-century British art, including Hepworth's second husband, Ben Nicholson. Image: Large and Small Form, 1934, Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), Bowness, The Pier Arts Centre, 4:C - Ross Sinclair wrote a song called Orkney Song in which he mentions the Pier Arts Centre and some of the team there. He was also a founding member of the band the Soup Dragons. Image: I Love Real Life, 2007, Ross Sinclair (b.1966), courtesy the artist, The Pier Arts Centre, 5:B - Wilhelmina Barns-Graham spent seven weeks as a resident artist in Orkney in 1984 following her exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre. Image: From The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness (Blue), 1984-86, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), courtesy of the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust, The Pier Arts Centre, 6:C - In the 1970s, Sylvia Wishart, Orcadian artist and friend of Margaret Gardiner, lived and worked in the building that now houses the Pier Arts Centre collection; her 1980s work Birds, Pears and Ship in a Bottle is pictured above. Wishart, along with artist, local historian and writer Bryce Wilson, were among Gardiner's many Orcadian friends who played an important role in the inception of the centre. Image: Birds, Pears and Ship in a Bottle, c.1980s, Sylvia Wishart (1936-2008), The artist’s estate, The Pier Arts Centre , 7:B - The work of Roger Ackling was an influence on Reiach and Hall architect Neil Gillespie when designing the redevelopment of the Pier Arts Centre building, which was completed in 2007. Image: Voewood, 2004, Roger Ackling (1947-2014), Estate of the Artist, The Pier Arts Centre , 8:C - Renowned Orcadian poet and writer George Mackay Brown spent most of his life in Stromness and was a regular visitor to the Pier Arts Centre. Image: George Mackay Brown (1921-96), 1991, Ian Scott (b.1940), courtesy the artist, The Pier Arts Centre

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Congratulations – you're without peer. Or indeed pier.

2. 0 and above.

   A valiant effort, but – like the Orkneys – not that hot.

3. 3 and above.

   A creditable if not mind-blowing result.