Author Description

From its simple origins in her studio, Barbara Hepworth's abstract sculpture has become iconic, taking pride of place in museum collections worldwide and outside buildings such as the UN headquarters in New York. Celebrated throughout her career in Britain, she was also a leading figure in international modern art. This major exhibition charts her progress from the earliest surviving carvings to the large-scale bronzes of the 1960s. Among the highlights are four large sculptures in sumptuous African hardwood - the high point of her post-war carving career - reunited in one room. Uniquely, this retrospective shows the way Hepworth's work was presented or imagined in contexts such as the studio, the theatre, the landscape or with architecture. Alongside sculpture, it features rarely seen textiles, photographs, collages and film, and selected works by her peers and predecessors from Jacob Epstein to Henry Moore.--Tate website.