Barbara Hepworth began her career as a sculptor in London in the late 1920s, and quickly established herself in the vanguard of the modern movement. Caught in St. Ives by the outbreak of the war, she went on to spend thirty-six years – exactly half her life – in the town. Hepworth came to value the sense of community she found in St. Ives, but it was this very rootedness that allowed her to develop sculpture for the national and international stage. Hepworth remains a central figure in British twentieth-century art, and this book describes her life and work, giving an up-to-date survey of the contexts in which she can currently be understood. Now reissued in a brand new British Artist Series hardback format and includes full colour photographs of Hepworth’s most famous sculptures.

Penelope Curtis describes the impetus behind the formal clarity of her sculpture, an attempt at ‘holding the beautiful thought’ amidst the difficult times in which she lived. Penelope Curtis is Director of Tate Britain.