Hepworth grew up in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and said the landscape shaped her: the hills, the hollows, the relationship between solid form and the space around it. She won a scholarship to Leeds School of Art at sixteen, where she met Henry Moore. They were the same age, from the same county, studying the same subject. The comparison followed them both for the rest of their careers.
Timeline
1903
Born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She decided to become a sculptor at 15, inspired by the landscape of the Yorkshire hills.
1920
At 17, enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London after studying at the Leeds School of Art, where she befriended Henry Moore. Both would become defining figures of twentieth-century British sculpture.
1924
At 21, travelled to Florence on a scholarship and learned to carve marble directly from the Italian sculptor Giovanni Ardini. She married fellow sculptor John Skeaping in 1925.
1931
At 28, became the first sculptor to pierce a hole through an abstract form, a breakthrough that defined her mature style. She separated from Skeaping the same year and later married the painter Ben Nicholson.
1939
At 36, moved with Nicholson and their triplet children (born 1934) to St Ives, Cornwall, at the outbreak of war. The Cornish coast became the primary inspiration for the rest of her career.
1950
At 47, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in the British Pavilion alongside John Constable and Matthew Smith. She was now regarded as one of the foremost abstract sculptors working in Britain.
1964
At 61, unveiled Single Form, a monumental bronze sculpture for the plaza of the United Nations headquarters in New York, commissioned as a memorial to Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold.
1975
Died at 72 in a fire at her studio in St Ives, Cornwall. Her studio and garden were preserved as the Barbara Hepworth Museum, later coming under the care of the Tate.
Biography
She studied at the Royal College of Art in London and then travelled to Italy on a scholarship, where she learned to carve marble directly rather than modelling in clay first. Direct carving became the principle: the artist works with the material, not against it. The grain of the wood, the fault lines in the stone, the weight of the bronze. She let the material participate in the decision.
The pierced forms started in 1931. A hole through the middle of a sculpture. It sounds simple, but it changed the relationship between the object and the space around it. The hole is not empty; it frames a view, lets light through, makes the interior visible. Hepworth said she wanted to make the viewer aware of the landscape through and beyond the sculpture.
She moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1939 with her husband Ben Nicholson and their triplets. The studio there, now the Barbara Hepworth Museum, became her base for the rest of her life. The St Ives group, which included Nicholson, Naum Gabo, and later Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton, turned a Cornish fishing village into one of the centres of British modernism.
She died in a fire at her studio in 1975, at seventy-two. She was still working.
Barbara Hepworth's works can be seen at Kröller-Müller Museum, Tate, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and 2 other museums worldwide.
Where can i see barbara hepworth sculptures?+
Barbara Hepworth's works can be seen at Kröller-Müller Museum, Tate, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and 2 other museums worldwide.
When did barbara hepworth die?+
Barbara Hepworth died in 1975 at the age of 72. Grew up in Yorkshire, met Henry Moore at art school, put holes in sculptures to let the landscape through, and worked in St Ives until a studio fire killed her.
How did barbara hepworth die?+
Barbara Hepworth died in 1975 at the age of 72. Grew up in Yorkshire, met Henry Moore at art school, put holes in sculptures to let the landscape through, and worked in St Ives until a studio fire killed her.
Why did barbara hepworth die?+
Barbara Hepworth died in 1975 at the age of 72. Grew up in Yorkshire, met Henry Moore at art school, put holes in sculptures to let the landscape through, and worked in St Ives until a studio fire killed her.
Did barbara hepworth have children?+
She moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1939 with her husband Ben Nicholson and their triplets.
Was barbara hepworth married to henry moore?+
She moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1939 with her husband Ben Nicholson and their triplets.
Why did barbara hepworth move to st ives?+
She moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1939 with her husband Ben Nicholson and their triplets.
Barbara hepworth art movement?+
She won a scholarship to Leeds School of Art at sixteen, where she met Henry Moore.
When did barbara hepworth start sculpting?+
The pierced forms started in 1931. A hole through the middle of a sculpture.
How did barbara hepworth make her sculptures?+
The hole is not empty; it frames a view, lets light through, makes the interior visible.
Did barbara hepworth die in a fire?+
She died in a fire at her studio in 1975, at seventy-two. She was still working.
Is barbara hepworth still alive?+
No, Barbara Hepworth died in 1975.
What is barbara hepworth best known for?+
Grew up in Yorkshire, met Henry Moore at art school, put holes in sculptures to let the landscape through, and worked in St Ives until a studio fire killed her.
Who was barbara hepworth married to?+
She moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1939 with her husband Ben Nicholson and their triplets.
