   #copyright

Henry Moore

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Artists

   Reclining Figure (1951) outside the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is
   characteristic of Moore's sculptures, with an abstract female figure
   intercut with voids. There are several bronze versions of this
   sculpture, but this one is made from painted plaster.
   Enlarge
   Reclining Figure (1951) outside the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is
   characteristic of Moore's sculptures, with an abstract female figure
   intercut with voids. There are several bronze versions of this
   sculpture, but this one is made from painted plaster.

   Henry Spencer Moore OM CH, ( 30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was a
   British artist and sculptor. The son of a mining engineer, born in the
   Yorkshire town of Castleford, Moore became well known for his
   large-scale abstract cast bronze and carved marble sculptures.
   Substantially supported by the British art establishment, Moore helped
   to introduce a particular form of modernism into the United Kingdom.

   His ability to satisfy large-scale commissions made him exceptionally
   wealthy towards the end of his life. However, he lived frugally and
   most of his wealth went to endow the Henry Moore Foundation, which
   continues to support education and promotion of the arts. He was
   influenced by three key factors. The materials he used, the war,
   ancient art such as Roman and Greek and the idea of mother and child,
   he based alot of his sculptures on a mother protecting a child.

   His signature form is a pierced reclining figure, first influenced by a
   Toltec-Maya sculpture known as " Chac Mool", which he had seen as a
   plaster cast in Paris in 1925. Early versions are pierced
   conventionally as a bent arm reconnects with the body. Later more
   abstract versions are pierced directly through the body in order to
   explore the concave and convex shapes. These more extreme piercings
   developed in parallel with Barbara Hepworth's sculptures. Hepworth
   first pierced a torso after misreading a review of one of Henry Moore's
   early shows.
   Three Piece Reclining Figure Draped (1976), Massachusetts Institute of
   Technology.
   Enlarge
   Three Piece Reclining Figure Draped (1976), Massachusetts Institute of
   Technology.

Sculpture

   Moore is best known for his abstract monumental bronzes which can be
   seen in many places around the world as public works of art. The
   subjects are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically
   mother-and-child or reclining figures. Interestingly, apart from a
   flirtation with family groups in the 1950s, the subject is nearly
   always a female figure. Characteristically, Moore's figures are
   pierced, or contain hollow voids. Many interpret the undulating form of
   his reclining figures as references to the landscape and hills of
   Yorkshire where Moore was born.

   When Moore's niece asked why his sculptures had such simple titles, he
   replied:

          All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on
          the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a
          title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator
          moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the
          meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she
          looks but they don't really, you know.

   Moore's early work focused on direct carving in which the form of the
   sculpture evolves as the artist repeatedly whittles away at the block
   (see Half-figure 1932). In the 1930s Moore's transition into Modernism
   paralleled that of Barbara Hepworth with both sculptors bouncing new
   ideas off each other and several other artists living in Hampstead at
   the time. Moore made many preparatory sketches and drawings for each
   sculpture. Most of these sketchbooks have survived, providing an
   insight into his development. By the end of the 1940s Moore
   increasingly produced sculptures by modelling, working out the shape in
   clay or plaster before casting the final work in bronze using the lost
   wax technique.

   After the Second World War Moore's Bronzes took on their monumental
   scale, particularly suited for the public art commissions he was
   receiving. As a matter of practicality he largely abandoned direct
   carving, and took on several assistants to help produce the maquettes.

   At his home in Much Hadham, Moore built up a collection of natural
   objects; skulls, driftwood, pebbles and shells, which he would use to
   provide inspiration for organic forms. For his largest works, he often
   produced a half-scale, working model before scaling up for the final
   moulding and casting at a bronze foundry. Sometimes a full-scale
   plaster model was constructed, allowing Moore to refine the final shape
   and add surface marks before casting.

Biography

   Three Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer) (1964-65) bronze, Nathan Phillips
   Square, Toronto.
   Enlarge
   Three Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer) (1964-65) bronze, Nathan Phillips
   Square, Toronto.

Early life

   Moore was born in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, the seventh of
   eight children to Raymond Spencer Moore and Mary Baker. His father was
   a mining engineer who rose to be under-manager of the Wheldale colliery
   in Castleford. He was an autodidact with an interest in music and
   literature, and he saw formal education as the route to advancement for
   his children.

   Moore decided to become a sculptor when he was only eleven, and was
   encouraged by his Sunday school teacher who introduced him to the work
   of Michaelangelo. Despite his showing early promise after he began
   modelling in clay and carving in wood while at secondary school,
   Moore's parents were against a career as a sculptor; they saw it as
   manual labour.

   On turning 18 in 1917, at the height of World War I, Moore was called
   up into the army. The youngest man in his regiment, the Civil Service
   Rifles, he was injured in a gas attack during the Battle of Cambrai.
   After recovering in hospital, he saw out the remainder of the war as a
   physical training instructor. In stark contrast to many of his
   contemporaries, Moore's wartime experience was largely untroubled. He
   said later, "for me the war passed in a romantic haze of trying to be a
   hero." After the war, Moore received an ex-serviceman's grant to
   continue his education and became the first student of sculpture at
   Leeds School of Art in 1919 — the school had to set up a sculpture
   studio especially for him.

College education

   "Large Four Piece Reclining Figure" (1973) bronze, San Francisco's
   Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall
   Enlarge
   "Large Four Piece Reclining Figure" (1973) bronze, San Francisco's
   Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

   While at Leeds, Moore met fellow art student Barbara Hepworth,
   beginning a friendship which would last for many years. Moore was also
   fortunate to be introduced to African tribal sculpture, by Sir Michael
   Sadler, the Vice-Chancellor at the Leeds School.

   In 1921 Moore won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art
   (RCA) in London, where Hepworth had gone the year before. While in
   London, Moore extended his knowledge of primitive art and sculpture,
   studying the ethnographic collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum
   and the British Museum.

   Both Moore and Hepworth's earliest sculptures followed standard
   teaching in romantic Victorian style; subjects were natural forms,
   landscapes and figurative modelling of animals. Moore increasingly felt
   uncomfortable with these classically derived ideas. With his knowledge
   of primitivism and the influence of sculptors such as Brancusi, Epstein
   and Dobson he started to develop a style of direct carving in which
   imperfections in the material and tool marks are incorporated into the
   finished sculpture. In doing so he had to fight against his academic
   tutors who did not appreciate the modern approach. In one exercise set
   by Derwent Wood, the professor of Sculpture at the RCA, Moore was
   supposed to reproduce a marble relief of Rosselli's The Virgin and
   Child, by first modelling the relief in plaster then reproducing it in
   marble using the mechanical technique of ' pointing'. Instead, Moore
   carved the relief directly, even marking the surface to simulate the
   surface prick marks that would have been left by the pointing machine.

   Nevertheless, in 1924, Moore won a six month travelling scholarship
   which he spent in Northern Italy studying the great works of
   Michelangelo, Giotto and several other Old Masters. Since Moore had
   already started to break away from the classical tradition, it is not
   clear that he drew much influence from this trip, though in later life
   he would often claim Michelangelo as an influence.

Life in Hampstead

   Moore's first public commission, West Wind (1928-29) was one of the
   eight 'winds' reliefs high on the walls of London Underground's
   headquarters at 55 Broadway. The other 'winds' were carved by
   contemporary sculptors including Eric Gill.
   Enlarge
   Moore's first public commission, West Wind (1928-29) was one of the
   eight 'winds' reliefs high on the walls of London Underground's
   headquarters at 55 Broadway. The other 'winds' were carved by
   contemporary sculptors including Eric Gill.

   On returning to London, Moore began a seven-year teaching post at the
   RCA. He was only required to teach two days a week, which gave him
   plenty of time to spend on his own work. In July 1929, he married Irina
   Radetsky, a painting student at the RCA — Irina was born in Kiev on 26
   March 1907 to Russian-Polish parents. Her father disappeared in the
   Russian Revolution and her mother was evacuated to Paris where she
   married a British army officer. Irina was smuggled to Paris a year
   later and went to school there until she was 16, after which she was
   sent to live with her stepfather’s relatives in Buckinghamshire. With
   such a troubled childhood, it is not surprising that Irina had a
   reputation of being quiet and a little withdrawn. However, she found
   security in her marriage to Moore and was soon posing for him.

   Shortly after getting married the pair moved to a studio in Hampstead
   on Parkhill Road, joining a small colony of avant-garde artists who
   were starting to take root there. Shortly afterwards, Hepworth and her
   partner Ben Nicholson moved into a studio around the corner from Moore,
   while Naum Gabo, Roland Penrose and the art critic Herbert Read also
   lived in the area. This led to a rapid cross-fertilisation of ideas
   that Read would publicise, helping to raise Moore's public profile. The
   area was also a stopping off point for a large number of refugee
   architects and designers from continental Europe enroute to America
   many of whom would later commission works from Moore.

   In the early 1930s, Moore took up a post as the Head of the Department
   of Sculpture at the Chelsea School of Art. Artistically, Moore,
   Hepworth and other members of the 7 and 5 Society would develop
   steadily more abstract work, partly influenced by their frequent trips
   to Paris and contact with leading progressive artists, notably Picasso,
   Braque, Arp and Giacometti. Moore flirted with Surrealism, joining Paul
   Nash's Unit One Group in 1933. Both Moore and Paul Nash were on the
   organizing committee of the London International Surrealist Exhibition,
   which took place in 1936. In 1937 Roland Penrose purchased an abstract
   'Mother and Child' in stone from Moore that he displayed in the front
   garden of his house in Hampstead. The piece proved controversial with
   other residents and a campaign was run against the piece by the local
   press over the next two years. At this time Moore gradually
   transitioned from direct carving to casting in bronze, modelling
   preliminary maquettes in clay or plaster.
   Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 5, Bronze (1963–64), in the grounds of
   Kenwood House, London.
   Enlarge
   Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 5, Bronze (1963–64), in the grounds of
   Kenwood House, London.

War artist

   This inventive and productive period was brought to an end by the
   outbreak of the Second World War. The Chelsea School of Art evacuated
   to Northampton and Moore resigned his teaching post. During the war,
   Moore was commissioned as a war artist, notably producing powerful
   drawings of Londoners sleeping in the London Underground while
   sheltering from the blitz . These drawings helped to boost Moore's
   international reputation, particularly in America.

   After their Hampstead home was hit by bomb shrapnel in 1940, he and
   Irina moved out of London to live in a farmhouse called Hoglands in the
   hamlet of Perry Green near Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. This was to
   become Moore's final home and workshop. Despite acquiring significant
   wealth later in life, Moore never felt the need to move to a larger
   home and apart from adding a number of outbuildings and workshops the
   house changed little.

International recognition

   After the war and following several earlier miscarriages, Irina gave
   birth to their daughter, Mary Moore on 7 March 1946. The child was
   named after Moore's mother, who had died a couple of years earlier.
   Both the loss of his mother and the arrival of a baby focused Moore's
   mind on the family, which he expressed in his work by producing many
   mother-and-child compositions, although reclining figures also remained
   popular. In the same year, Moore made his first visit to America when a
   retrospective exhibition of his work opened at the Museum of Modern Art
   in New York. Kenneth Clark became an unlikely but influential champion
   of Moore's work and through his position as member of the Arts Council
   of Great Britain secured exhibitions and commissions for the artist. In
   1948 he won the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale
   and was one of the featured artists of the Festival of Britain in 1951
   and Documenta 1 in 1955.
   Family Group (1950) bronze, outside Barclay School in Stevenage, was
   Moore's first large scale commission following the Second World War.
   Enlarge
   Family Group (1950) bronze, outside Barclay School in Stevenage, was
   Moore's first large scale commission following the Second World War.

   Towards the end of the war, Moore had been approached by Henry Morris
   who was in the process of trying to reform education with the concept
   of the village college. Morris had engaged Walter Gropius as the
   architect for his second village college at Impington near Cambridge
   and he wanted Moore to design a major public sculpture for the site.
   Unfortunately, the County Council could not afford Gropius's full
   design, and scaled back the project when Gropius emigrated to America.
   Lacking funds, Morris had to cancel Moore's sculpture, which had not
   progressed beyond the maquette stage. Fortunately, Moore was able to
   reuse the design in 1950 for a similar commission outside a secondary
   school for the new town of Stevenage. This time, the project was
   completed and Family Group became Moore's first large scale public
   bronze.

   In the 1950s, Moore began to receive increasingly significant
   commissions, including one for the UNESCO building in Paris 1957. With
   many more public works of art, the scale of Moore's sculptures grew
   significantly and he started to employ a number of assistants to work
   with him at Much Hadham, including Anthony Caro and Richard Wentworth.
   Nuclear Energy (1967) at the University of Chicago campus, designating
   the location of the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction
   Enlarge
   Nuclear Energy (1967) at the University of Chicago campus, designating
   the location of the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction

   On the campus of the University of Chicago, twenty-five years to the
   minute (3:36 p.m., December 2, 1967) after the team of physicists led
   by Enrico Fermi achieved the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear
   chain reaction, Moore's Nuclear Energy was unveiled on the site of what
   used to be the University's football field bleachers, in the squash
   courts beneath which the experiments had taken place. This
   twelve-foot-tall piece in the middle of a large, open plaza is often
   thought to represent a mushroom cloud topped by a massive human skull,
   but Moore's interpretation was very different. He once told a friend
   that he hoped viewers would "go around it, looking out through the open
   spaces, and that they may have a feeling of being in a cathedral."

Legacy

   Knife Edge – Two Piece (1962) bronze, sited opposite the Houses of
   Parliament, Westminster, London.
   Enlarge
   Knife Edge – Two Piece (1962) bronze, sited opposite the Houses of
   Parliament, Westminster, London.

   The last three decades of Moore's life continued in a similar vein,
   with several major retrospectives around the world, notably a very
   prominent exhibition in the summer of 1972 in the grounds of the Forte
   di Belvedere overlooking Florence. By the end of the 1970s, there were
   some 40 exhibitions a year featuring his work.

   The number of commissions continued to increase; he completed Knife
   Edge Two Piece in 1962 for College Green next to the Houses of
   Parliament in London. Moore commented;

          When I was offered the site near the House of Lords... I liked
          the place so much that I didn't bother to go and see an
          alternative site in Hyde Park — one lonely sculpture can be lost
          in a large park. The House of Lords site is quite different. It
          is next to a path where people walk and it has a few seats where
          they can sit and contemplate it.

   Hill Arches (1972-73) bronze, at the National Gallery of Australia.
   Enlarge
   Hill Arches (1972-73) bronze, at the National Gallery of Australia.

   As his personal wealth grew dramatically, Moore began to worry about
   his legacy. With the help of his daughter Mary, he set up the Henry
   Moore Trust in 1972, with a view to protecting his estate from death
   duties. By 1977 he was paying about a million pounds a year in income
   tax, and so to mitigate this tax burden he established the Henry Moore
   Foundation as a registered charity with Irina and Mary as trustees. The
   Foundation was established to promote the public appreciation of art
   and to preserve Moore's sculptures. It now runs Hoglands as a gallery
   and museum of Moore's workshops. The Foundation also manages the Henry
   Moore Institute in Leeds that supports exhibition and research
   activities into international sculpture. While by the Foundation's own
   admission general interest in Moore's work has declined since his death
   the institutions he endowed continue to play an essential role in
   promoting contemporary art in the United Kingdom.

   Although Moore had turned down a knighthood in 1951 he was later
   awarded the Companion of Honour in 1955 and the Order of Merit in 1963.
   He was a trustee of both the National Gallery and Tate Gallery. His
   proposal that a wing of the latter should be devoted to his sculptures
   aroused hostility among some artists. In 1975 he became the first
   President of the Turner Society, which had been founded to campaign for
   a separate museum in which the whole Turner Bequest might be reunited,
   an aim defeated by the National Gallery and Tate Gallery.

   Henry Moore died on 31 August 1986, at the age of 88, in his home in
   Hertfordshire. His body is interred in the Artist's Corner at St Paul's
   Cathedral.

   On Thursday December 15, 2005, thieves gained access to the courtyard
   of the Henry Moore Foundation and stole a bronze statue worth £3m
   ($5.3m). The 1969/1970 work, known as Reclining Figure LH608 is 3.6m
   long, 2m high by 2m wide and weighs 2.1 tonnes. A substantial reward
   has been offered by the Foundation for information leading to its
   recovery. It is feared it may have been stolen for melting down as
   scrap metal.

Selected works from America

   Oval with Points (Nicknamed "Nixon's Nose), Princeton University
   (1969-70)

   Draped Reclining Figure, Washington D.C., (1952-53)

   Draped Reclining Figure, Washington D.C., (1952-53)

   Three Piece Reclining Figure No. 2: Bridge Prop, Washington D.C..
   (1963)

   King and Queen, Washington D.C. (1952)

   Upright Motive No. 1, Glenkiln Cross, Washington D.C. (1955)

   Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, San Diego Museum of Art, (1969)

Permanent exhibitions

   Panorama of the Art Gallery of Ontario's Henry Moore collection, the
   largest public collection of the sculptor's works in the world.
   Enlarge
   Panorama of the Art Gallery of Ontario's Henry Moore collection, the
   largest public collection of the sculptor's works in the world.

   Moore's sculptures and drawings can be seen at numerous national art
   galleries around the world. Notable collections are held at
   Locking Piece (1963) bronze, presented to the Tate Gallery and now
   sited in Millbank near the Tate Britain.
   Enlarge
   Locking Piece (1963) bronze, presented to the Tate Gallery and now
   sited in Millbank near the Tate Britain.
     * Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, largest collection of monumental
       bronzes in the United States
     * Henry Moore Foundation, , Perry Green, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire,
       UK
     * Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK
     * Tate Gallery, London, UK
     * Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
     * Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Leeds, UK
     * Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
     * Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, and dotted around the campus of
       UEA, Norwich, UK.
     * Wakefield City Art Gallery, UK
     * Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
     * Paço imperial, Rio de Janeiro, RJ

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
