Barbara Hepworth

Eleanor Clayton is Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield and a Barbara Hepworth specialist. As Assistant Curator: Exhibitions and Displays at Tate Liverpool (2010–14), she curated displays around Hepworth’s work and contributed to the Tate’s Hepworth Research Forum in the development of the exhibition ‘Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World’ at Tate Britain in 2015. Ali Smith is one of Britain’s leading contemporary novelists.

• ForewordIntroduction1. The Shadow Dance2. An Expanding World3. Material Harmony4. A New Order5. Mother & Child6. Artists for Peace7. War Work8. Landscape Sculpture9. Concentration, Movement & Gesture10. Fierce Counterpoint11. Rhythmic Form12. The Aegean Suite13. Forms Ascending14. Single Form15. Affirmation of Life16. Sun & Moon

'Clayton’s book may be unusual in that she avoids the British biographical tradition of combining amateur psychoanalysis with elevated gossip. But it is perfect on its own terms, dissecting Hepworth’s thoughtful writing, the technicalities of her changing sculptural practice, the demands of motherhood and her ambition and seriousness. What emerges most powerfully from Clayton’s study is the importance of female friendships and loyalties in Hepworth’s life' - Literary Review