Barbara Hepworth

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.

Embodying Barbara Hepworth's investigations of abstraction and the body, 'A Matter of Form' includes works in a range media - from bronze and marble to mahogany and aluminum - as well as sculptures from across Hepworth's thematic range - such as relationships between mother and child, man and nature, and the individual to the group. The impact of Hepworth's ongoing commitment to the "direct carving" technique stands out throughout the exhibition. Rather than traditional casting, "direct carving" allowed Hepworth to pursue profound spiritual connections with her material. --