She developed an abstract style, characteristic works (carved in wood or stone) being slender, upright forms reminiscent of standing stones or totems; and round, hollowed forms with spaces bridged by wires or strings, as in Pelagos 1946 (Tate Gallery, London). Her public commissions include Winged Figure 1962 (John Lewis Building, London) and Single Form 1962-63 (United Nations, New York). Hepworth was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and studied art at Leeds and at the Royal College of Art, London, where Henry Moore was a fellow pupil. An admirer of Moore, Constantin Brancusi, and Hans Arp, she gradually developed a completely abstract style. She married 1933 the painter Ben Nicholson, whose influence encouraged her interest in abstract forms. In 1939 she moved to St Ives, Cornwall, where her studio is now a museum.
