Henry Spencer Moore
Henry Moore studied at Leeds College of Art and retained an affection for the city throughout his illustrious career. In 1982 he gave money to set up the Henry Moore Institute, a centre for the study of sculpture, adjacent to Leeds Art Gallery.
This sculpture dates from 1929 and represents an early rendering of a subject which would help make Moore's work famous around the world.
1898-1986, English sculptor.
Moore's early sculpture was angular and rough, strongly influenced by pre-Columbian art. About 1928 he evolved a more personal style which has gained him an international reputation.
His works, in wood, stone, and cement (done without clay models), are characterised by their smooth, organic shape and often include empty hollows, which he showed to have as meaningful a shape as solid mass.
During World War II, when materials for carving were scarce, he was commissioned by the government to do a series of drawings of the London underground bomb shelters (1940).
His favorite sculptural subjects have been the mother and child and the reclining figure. Moore executed an abstract screen and a reclining figure for the Time-Life Building in London (1952-53), a bronze group for Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts in New York City (1962-65), and a monument for the Univ. of Chicago (1964-66). In the Art Gallery of Toronto, a gallery has been dedicated entirely to his works.
Article By: Dave Roberts.
First Published: 2007.
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