Henry Moore

Henry Moore is regarded as one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. Working mainly in sculpture, Moore’s works helped to define abstraction in Britain from the 1920s until his death in 1986. The artist is best known for his works in bronze, which depict distorted human bodies, reduced into free flowing forms. Moore also worked with graphic arts, utilising paper and often a mixture of inks, charcoals, pastels, and colored pencils to represent minimal, yet still monumental, human figures which possess the same aesthetic qualities as his sculptures. For his modelling techniques and conception of bodily mass, Moore looked to artists such as Michelangelo, as well as more contemporary figures such as Constantin Brâncuși and Jacob Epstein.

Moore (1898-1986) was born into a working-class family in West Yorkshire. In 1919, he began studying sculpture at Leeds School of Art. He soon began studying at the Royal College of Art in 1921, where he developed his abstract style. Following several group exhibitions, his first solo exhibition was in London, 1928. During the 1930s, Moore frequently exhibited with the Surrealists both in the UK and internationally. In 1938, his work was included in the International Exhibition of Abstract Art at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. The 1940s saw Moore’s international fame rise, with his first international retrospective held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1946. Two years later, Moore’s sculptures were exhibited at the Venice Biennale of 1948, winning the International Prize for Sculpture. He began receiving several major international commissions, including a large-scale sculpture for the UNESCO building in Paris. In 1972, he exhibited at the Forte di Belvedere, Florence, a site renowned for its history with sculpture. The Henry Moore Foundation saw its inaugural year in 1977, after being opened by Moore and his partner, Irina Radetsky. Throughout his life, the artist was dedicated to creating his work for public spaces institutions. Many of his sculptures are now held in public collections such as Tate, as well as in public spaces, such as Abington Street Gardens outside the House of Lords, Westminster.