Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth first came to live in Cornwall with her husband Ben Nicholson and their young family at the outbreak of war in 1939. She lived and worked in Trewyn studios, now the Hepworth Museum, from 1949 until her death in 1975.

Following her wish to establish her home and studio as a museum of her work, Trewyn Studio and much of the artist's work remaining there was given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate Gallery in 1980. Since then, scholarly interest has focused on her status as one of the few women artists to achieve international prominence. In 2011, The Hepworth Wakefield opened, the largest purpose built exhibition space outside of London.

Hepworth's work is in all the major museum collections throughout the world, which befits her status as one of the most important British sculptors of her generation. Hepworth's powerful, elemental and precise sculpture made a major contribution to the development of twentieth century art and she remains a seminal figure for contemporary audiences fascinated by her remarkable achievements at the highest international level and the artistic and intellectual circles in which she moved. Hepworth strived to bring an alliance between art and society, although also noted for bringing a union between artist and the individual viewer.

Barbara Hepworth, 'Sculpture for a Modern World' ran at Tate Britain, June - October 2015 and then traveled to Kröller-Müller Museum and the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck.