A Famous Female Sculptor: Barbara Hepworth

Posted by Martin Davis on May 21st, 2021

Barbara Hepworth studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art along with Henry Moore. In 1928, Hepworth and Moore, along with her friend and fellow artist Richard Bedford, became the leaders of this new method of direct carving sculpture. In 1932, she and her then-husband Ben Nicholson mounted a sculpture exhibition declaring their move to abstraction and joined the group, Abstraction-Création, and became the driving force behind constructivism. When World War II hit London, Hepworth escaped to St. Ives in Cornwall, but she worked to form an artist group that brought international recognition to St. Ives artists after the war. Hepworth exhibited extensively and was committed to producing many public works, including One Shape for the United Nations in 1964. Barbara Hepworth sculpture for sale is available online. Her work included smooth curves and creative exploration of negative space.

Hepworth was born into a middle-class family in Wakefield, Yorkshire, at the turn of the century. Her father was a civil engineer who became a county surveyor. Barbara Hepworth artwork was obvious from the start and he received a scholarship to the Leeds School of Art in 1920. It was here that he met sculptor Henry Moore, perhaps the best known of contemporary artists of this era. There is no doubt that he was a great influence on his work, but it is likely that it was a two-way process. From here he won an additional scholarship to the Royal College of Art and received a diploma in 1923. The following year, Hepworth stayed to compete for the Prix de Rome. She lost to John Skeaping, who would become her husband.