Barbara Hepworth the Castle Inn; nineteen artists were founding members, including Peter Lanyon and Bernard Leach. Hepworth was also a skilled draughtsman. After her daughter Sarah was hospitalised in 1944, she struck up a close friendship with the surgeon Norman Capener. At Capener's invitation, she was invited to view surgical procedures and, between 1947–1949, she produced nearly eighty drawings of operating rooms in chalk, ink, and pencil. Hepworth was fascinated by the similarities between surgeons and artists, stating: "There is, it seems to me, a close affinity between the work and approach of both physicians and surgeons, and painters and sculptors." In
Barbara Hepworth by RBS and can be seen in Wolverhampton City Art Gallery. Hepworth was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1959 São Paulo Bienal. She also was awarded the Freedom of St Ives award in 1968 as an acknowledgment of her significant contributions to the town. She was awarded honorary degrees from Birmingham (1960), Leeds (1961), Exeter (1966), Oxford (1968), London (1970), and Manchester (1971). She was appointed CBE in 1958 and DBE in 1965. In 1973 she was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Following her death, her studio and home in St Ives