Ensuring outstanding teaching in art & design Art academy Ensuring outstanding teaching in art & design

ABSTRACT SCULPTURE

Barbara Hepworth was a very famous British sculptor, who was born in Wakefield, England in 1903. Dame Barbara Hepworth (British Sculptor)

As a child she remembered driving though the Yorkshire countryside with her family. She never forgot the shapes made by the roads, hills and fields and they inspired her to make some amazing artwork She studied at Leeds School of Art with Henry Moore (a very famous British artist and sculptor) who became a life-long friend.

What do you think are the similarities and differences in their work? This is a sculpture by Henry Moore This is a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth What do you think are the similarities and differences in their work?

Barbara’s most important sculptures were abstract Barbara’s most important sculptures were abstract. They were made of wood, stone and bronze. Barbara said her work was a way of ‘holding a beautiful thought’.

In the 1930s, Hepworth became part of a group of artists who stopped making art that looked like people and started making abstract art. She met with a lot of international artists, like Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Kandinsky!