Barbara Hepworth civil engineer for the West Riding County Council, who in 1921 became County Surveyor. Hepworth attended Wakefield Girls' High School, where she was awarded music prizes at the age of twelve as noted by Sophie Bowness in "Rhythm of the Stones: Barbara Hepworth and Music" and won a scholarship to and studied at the Leeds School of Art from 1920. It was there that she met her fellow student, Henry Moore. They became friends and established a friendly rivalry that lasted professionally for many years. Hepworth was the first to sculpt the pierced figures that are characteristic of works by
Barbara Hepworth Museum Forms. A set of photographs in the museum shows the progress of this project. Wood carving was done in an upstairs room, and the bronze statues she started casting in 1956 had their origins in the plaster prototypes she worked on in the upper of the two outside studios. She was helped in the creation of the garden by her friend, the South African-born composer Priaulx Rainier. Barbara Hepworth died in a fire at this site in 1975, when she was aged 72. The family passed the museum to the Tate gallery in 1980 and they still manage it. Barbara