Barbara Hepworth, 1903-1975

Hepworth trained at Leeds School of Art, where she became a friend of Henry Moore, then later at the Royal College of Art. Her early sculptures were naturalistic and by the early 1930s her work was entirely abstract. From 1925 to 1931 Hepworth was first married the sculptor John Skeaping. She met up with Ben Nicholson married him in 1931. The couple worked in close harmony with Henry moore and were widely recognized as the nucleus of the abstract movement in England. In 1939 Hepworth moved to St Ives with Nicholson and lived there for the rest of her life . In all her work she displayed a deep understanding of the quality of her materials and superb standards of craftsmanship that she had first learnt as a young student in Italy. By the 1950s she was one of the most internationally famous of sculptors. She now worked more in bronze, especially for large pieces, but she always retained a special feeling for direct carving. Hepworth died tragically in a fire at her studio in St Ives.