Who Was Barbara Hepworth? Google Doodle Celebrates Influential English Sculptor

Special Google Doodle is going live Tuesday to celebrate the life and work of the influential English abstract sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth.

Hepworth was born in West Yorkshire, England, on Jan.10, 1903. In her teens, she decided to become a sculptor following which she enrolled at the Leeds School of Art in 1920. Hepworth then attended the Royal College of Art in London. She was awarded a West Riding Scholarship in 1924 which allowed her to travel abroad for a year. She traveled to Italy and studied Romanesque and early Renaissance art and architecture. Her early works featured classic elements, but over time, she shifted to wholly abstract pieces.

"Though concerned with form and abstraction, Hepworth’s art was primarily about relationships: not merely between two forms presented side-by-side, but between the human figure and the landscape, color and texture, and most importantly between people at an individual and social level," the official website of Tate, the institution which operates Hepworth’s museum and sculptor garden, noted.

In the next few years, she traveled throughout Europe and met some of the most influential artists. This changed her way of working and she started approaching her career with renewed clarity. On Aug.25, 1939, she arrived in St. Ives, where she set up her studio and lived until her death in 1975. Google Doodle is celebrating the anniversary of her move to the town on England’s southern coast.

"In her lifetime, however, she was also a major international figure, showing her work in exhibitions around the globe. As a woman in a largely male-dominated art-world, Hepworth took an active role in the way her work was presented. She was particular about the documentation of her works, and collaborated closely with others," Tate’s official website stated.

Hepworth won several awards including the Grand Prix at the 1959 São Paulo Bienal. She was also named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1965.

Here are some inspirational quotes by one of the mid-20th century’s most impactful sculptors, courtesy Brainy Quotes.

• "At no point do I wish to be in conflict with any man or masculine thought. It doesn't enter my consciousness. Art is anonymous. It's not competitive with men. It's a complementary contribution."
• "One must be entirely sensitive to the structure of the material that one is handling. One must yield to it in tiny details of execution, perhaps the handling of the surface or grain, and one must master it as a whole."
• "I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not."