Winged Figure in 1961. John Lewis originally approached Jacob Epstein to create a sculpture to decorate the plain Portland stone side wall of the new store, but he declined as he was engaged on other commissions. Instead, in May 1961, John Lewis asked six other artists to propose designs. In addition to Hepworth – whose breakthrough public sculpture, "Meridian", had recently been installed outside State House on Holborn – the others were Ralph Brown, Geoffrey Clarke, Tony Hollaway, Stefan Knapp, William Mitchell and Hans Tisdall. None of their initial designs was accepted. Hepworth had been asked to express "the idea of common
Philip Hepworth by "classical, English and local Norman styles". A number of his buildings are listed. Hepworth was born in 1890. He attended Highgate School from September 1902 until July 1906. His initial architectural studies were at the Architectural Association School of Architecture from 1906 to 1910, during which time he also attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. He became assistant to London-based architect Walter Frederick Cave, and after further travels in France he passed his Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) qualifying exam in 1911. He was awarded RIBA's 1914 British School at Rome scholarship. During the First World