About
Discover Wakefield and its connection to Dame Barbara Hepworth on this guided trail around the city that she grew up in.
Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born at 15 Duke of York Street, Wakefield on 10th January 1903, the eldest child of Gertrude and Herbert Raikes Hepworth. Herbert, who was the son of a textile merchant, was employed as a Civil Engineer at the West Riding County Council and would, in 1921, become the County Surveyor.
Barbara attended Wakefield Girls’ High School from the age of 7 and the enlightened headmistress, Miss Gertrude McCroben, saw how Barbara was drawn to Art and Music, particularly ancient statues.
Barbara won a Junior County Scholarship to Leeds School of Art where she commenced study in 1920 when she was 17. It was here that she met fellow student Henry Moore.
In 1921, Barbara took up a place at the Royal College of Art in London and would go on to become an internationally recognised sculptor. Initially, she based herself in London but moved to Cornwall with her then husband, artist Ben Nicholson, just before the outbreak of World War II.
She rarely visited Wakefield but did come for an exhibition in 1951, held at the former Wakefield City Art Gallery in Wentworth Terrace. This was part of the Festival of Britain’s programme of exhibitions outside London.
Although primarily known as a sculptor, her series of drawings of surgeons at hospitals in Exeter and London in 1944 stood as something apart from her usual work. Barbara was made CBE in 1958 and DBE in 1965. She died in an accidental fire at her studios in Cornwall, aged 72.
Find out more about Dame Barbara Hepworth on the Wakefield Civic Society website.
Download the full PDF map leaflet.
Published by Wakefield Civic Society.
Text: John Seacome.