Biography for Dame Barbara Hepworth

Education

Hepworth trained at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art

Member

In 1933 she was a member of Abtraction-Creation and also a member of Unit One.

Employment

The most influential female British sculptor of the 20th century and one of the most important pioneers of abstract art in Britain.She was a close friend of the sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) and shared many of his ideas. Hepworth worked in wood and stone and favoured direct carving as a way of relating to the innate qualities of the natural material. Although predominantly abstract, she felt her work was grounded in the elemental forms of landscape.