Figure of a Woman
- Artist: Dame Barbara Hepworth
- Date: 1929–30
- Medium: Corsehill stone
- Dimensions: object: 533 x 305 x 279 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Figure of a Woman” by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Made in 1929–30, it sits on an integral marble base stamped “BH”. The main block is Corsehill stone, a red sandstone quarried in Dumfrieshire, worked by direct carving – she described it as a personal accord that let forms emerge naturally. You can see the claw‑chisel marks along the hair and the subtle asymmetry of the eyes; the lower face shows a simple almond, while the other eye is just a shallow cut. The sculpture’s mass comes from careful shaping of the hips and shoulders, giving it a solid yet graceful shape. Hepworth returned to hand‑carving in that period to bring immediacy into her work – she said the forms grew out of each stone block. After being cleaned by steam in 1991, the piece still feels very fresh. It exemplifies early‑20th‑century modernist carving and a bold assertion of an anonymous female figure.
See it in person
Figure of a Woman is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
