Barbara Hepworth’s string sculptures exhibited in public for first time

Artist's fascination with string is focus of show opening next week with works not seen beyond private collections

For more than 60 years, Barbara Hepworth's Winged Figure has loomed over London's Oxford Street, hanging off the side of its John Lewis store. Made of aluminium and incorporating slender rods, it is one of dozens of string" sculptures the Cornwall-based artist created during her five-decade career.

Unlike Winged Figure, many of these works have never been publicly displayed. That is about to change as they go on show in a London gallery in the first ever dedicated exhibition on Thursday.