Dame Barbara Hepworth (British 1903-1975)
Barbara Hepworth,Sculptor. Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Studied at Leeds College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Won the Rome Scholarship and lived in Italy in 1924, studying Italian technique of marble carving. She married John Skeaping, also a sculptor. By 1928 Hepworth had her studio at Parkhill Road, Hampstead, her new neighbours were Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson. In 1932/33, Hepworth and Nicholson travelled to Paris and visited Paris Studios of leading Painters working there. (Her marriage to Skeaping was dissolved in 1933.) In 1933 she joined the Abstraction-Création movement; an international Paris based exhibiting Society. On the outbreak of war, Hepworth, Nicholson and the triplets moved to Cornwall. Due to family obligations, Hepworth did not sculpt until 1943. Her marriage with Nicholson broke up and in 1955. Hepworth decided to live in St. Ives, Cornwall. She had a major retrospective at the Whitechapel Art gallery in 1952 and 1962, and at the Tate in 1968. Hepworth died in a fire accident in her studio. Her studio is now a museum. (A trip is highly recommended )
