A richly illustrated biography on the life and work of Barbara Hepworth, which accompanies a major retrospective Barbara Hepworth | Art & Life, on show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) from 9 April until 2 October 2022.

One of the twentieth century’s most inspiring artists and a pioneer of modernist sculpture. Published on the occasion of The Hepworth Wakefield's 10th anniversary exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life, this biography moves beyond the traditional narratives of modernism to provide comprehensive insight into Hepworth’s remarkable life, work, and legacy.

This publication reflects Hepworth’s multifaceted and interdisciplinary approach, shedding new light on her interests in music, dance, poetry, contemporary politics, science, and technology. Author Eleanor Clayton uncovers Hepworth’s engagement with these fields through friends and networks and examines how they show up in Hepworth’s artistic practice, and how the artist synthesized seemingly conflicting disciplines and ideas into one coherent and inspirational philosophy of art and life.

Eleanor Clayton is curator at The Hepworth Wakefield and a Barbara Hepworth specialist. As a freelance writer on contemporary art, Clayton’s reviews and features have appeared in Frieze, Art Monthly, and The Burlington, among other periodicals. She is the editor and contributing author of Howard Hodgkin, Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, and Viviane Sassen.

Ali Smith is a Man Booker Prize finalist and one of Britain's leading contemporary novelists. Her fiction has been translated into 40 languages.