Barbara Hepworth Museum

Barnoon Hill, St. Ives, TR26 1AD
Tel: (01736) 796226
Email: visiting.stives@tate.org.uk
Web: www.tate.org.uk/stives

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Former home and studio of Barbara Hepworth

Under the auspices of The Tate Gallery, this small museum celebrates the work of Dame Barbara Hepworth through a gallery, archives, workshops, sculpture garden and bookshop.

Barbara Hepworth first came to live in Cornwall with her husband Ben Nicholson and their young family at the outbreak of war in 1939. She lived and worked in Trewyn studios – now the Barbara Hepworth Museum – from 1949 until her death in 1975. Following her wish to establish her home and studio as a museum of her work, Trewyn Studio and much of the artist’s work remaining there was given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate Gallery in 1980.

The wonderful collection of Hepworth's own sculptures combines superbly with the architectural planting of her garden as a permanent testimonial to her importance. The house and half-acre sloping garden are kept as they were in her lifetime. The strong vertical and other architectural statements and the soft under-planting occlude views outside and provide a soft contrasting background for the sculptures. Trees shade the upper part of the garden and give transient light effect in the sun. They include Cordyline Australis, bamboos and a Metasequoia on the back wall, and below them Magnolia Grandiflora, a Ginkgo, and a row of Prunus 'Amanogawa' providing cover for a small but important pond and separating the upper garden from the small open lawn which forms the lower part. Below are herbaceous beds and a silver-grey path.

Admission in the high season may be restricted to prevent overcrowding.

Location

Just behind St. Ives town centre near the harbour.

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