1903-1975
Barbara Hepworth was an English modernist sculptor who achieved international fame for her distinctive artworks. Born in Wakefield in 1903, she attended the Leeds School of Art from 1920. There she met the sculptor Henry Moore and formed a lifelong artistic friendship. In 1921 she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art. During an extended stay in Florence in the early 1920s, Hepworth learned the art of carving marble under the supervision of Giovanni Ardini.
Hepworth experimented with lithography in her late career, and produced two lithographic suites with the Curwen Gallery and its director Stanley Jones, one in 1969 and one in 1971. The latter was entitled “The Aegean Suite” (1971) and was inspired by Hepworth’s trip to Greece in 1954 with Margaret Gardiner. The artist also produced a set of lithographs entitled “Opposing Forms” (1970) with Marlborough Fine Art in London.
Hepworth died in 1975 after an accidental fire at her studios.
