English artist
Henry Spencer Moore
was born,
30 July, 1898
in Castleford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
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One of the most significant British artists of the twentieth century, Moore was the son of a miner and the seventh of eight children.
He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.
His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures. Moore’s works are usually suggestive of the female body, apart from a phase in the 1950s when he sculpted family groups. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces.
Moore became well known through his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures, and was instrumental in introducing a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. His ability in later life to fulfill large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy. Despite this, he lived frugally; most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.
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So here’s a glimpse of his work & words
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“All art is an abstraction to some degree.”
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“Art is a continuous activity with no separation between past and present.”
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“Art is not to do with the practical side of making a living. It’s to live a fuller human life. “
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“To be an artist is to believe in life. “
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“The important thing is somehow to begin.”
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“If an artist tries consciously to do something to others, it is to stretch their eyes, their thoughts, to something they would not see or feel if the artist had not done it. To do this, he has to stretch his own first.”
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“It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work. “
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“The artist works with a concentration of his whole personality, and the conscious part of it resolves conflicts, organized memories, and prevents him from trying to walk in two directions at the same time.”
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“Now I really make the little idea from clay, and I hold it in my hand. I can turn it, look at it from underneath, see it from one view, hold it against the sky, imagine it any size I like, and really be in control, almost like God creating something. “
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“Discipline in art is a fundamental struggle to understand oneself, as much as to understand what one is drawing.”
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“I’m very grateful that I was too poor to get to art school until I was 21… I was old enough when I got there to know how to get something out of it. (Henry Moore) “
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“A work can have in it a pent-up energy, an intense life of its own, independent of the subject it may represent. “
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“Sculpture is an art of the open air… I would rather have a piece of my sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in, or on, the most beautiful building I know.”
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“Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses.”
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“Our knowledge of shape and form remains, in general, a mixture of visual and of tactile experiences… A child learns about roundness from handling a ball far more than from looking at it.”
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“If I set out to sculpt a standing man and it becomes a lying woman, I know I am making art.”
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“The construction of the human figure, its tremendous variety of balance, of size, of rhythm, all those things make the human form much more difficult to get right in a drawing than anything else.”
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“I sometimes begin a drawing with no preconceived problem to solve, with only the desire to use pencil on paper… but as my eye takes in what is so produced, a point arrives where some idea crystallizes, and then a control and ordering begins to take place.”
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“A sculptor is a person who is interested in the shape of things, a poet in words, a musician by sounds. “
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“I don’t know of any good work of art that doesn’t have a mystery. “
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“The whole of nature is an endless demonstration of shape and form. It always surprises me when artists try to escape from this. “
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“The observation of nature is part of an artist’s life, it enlarges his form and knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.”
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“The creative habit is like a drug. The particular obsession changes, but the excitement, the thrill of your creation lasts.”
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“All the arts are based on the senses. What they do for the person who practices them, and also the persons interested in them, is make that particular sense more active and more acute.”
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“One mustn’t let technique be the consciously important thing. It should be at the service of expressing the form.”
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Drawings
Shelterers in the Tube 1941 [http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N05712] 
Standing Figures 1940 [http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N05210] 
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Photos
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Accompanied by…
Henry Moore Discusses His Elemental Masterpieces
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Henry Moore (1951) BBC Television Documentary
Written and Produced by John Read
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1/4 Henry Moore: A Culture Show Special (2010)
Presented by Alan Yentob pt 1/4
2/4 Henry Moore: A Culture Show Special (2010)
Presented by Alan Yentob pt2/4
3/4 Henry Moore: A Culture Show Special (2010)
Presented by Alan Yentob pt3/4
4/4 Henry Moore: A Culture Show Special (2010)
Presented by Alan Yentob pt4/4
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For more information on Moore:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henry-moore-om-ch-1659/henry-moores-sculptures
https://www.moma.org/artists/4071
https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/2818-henry-moore
https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/henry-moore.html
https://www.moma.org/artists/4071
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/henry-moore
https://goulandris.gr/en/exhibition/henry-moore-in-the-light-of-greece
Marina Kanavaki 
Thank you for the introduction to Henry Moore’s work, Marina! I’m drawn to the smooth curves of it.
That’s exactly what drew me too and then these sharp points…
So glad you enjoyed it, Liz!
Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday to you as well, Marina!
🙏☀️🙏
I’ve seen a few of his sculptures when I worked in London and they are amazing pieces! It’s good to see them gathered here in one place, although not life-size. Thanks, Marina! 💐💐🙋♂️
I saw them back in 1990 while studying in London and they are amazing pieces indeed. I love “Oval and points”!
Thank you, Ashley! Happy weekend!
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Thank you, Marina, for this introduction to Moore’s sculptures. They are amazing and wonderfully thought provoking. You remind me that I’ve always enjoyed sculpture when it’s put in front of my eyes 🙂
Ah, so happy to hear that!
“Put in front of me”! What I get with a plate of artichokes! I never crave for one but when placed in front of me, I can’t stop… and I do hope Moore’s bones aren’t turning, I’m not comparing him with artichokes! 🤣 Happens with art cinematography too… up to the moment the opening titles start! 😉😘
Hurray…for sculpture, for Moore, for artichokes, and for art cinematography! 😉
😉 !!!!!! xoxo
Gosh, I never realized he was that well-represented around the world. Here in Canada an internationally minor folk musician did a song… https://youtu.be/3dvpJULyxJM
Nice post! 🐢🐰
I adore the works of Henry Moore!
Helps that I live in Toronto, where the AGO, as you mentioned, has the worlds largest public collection. They have collected a lot of his drawings, as well as sculptures.
Many times I have sat in the cradle of Two Large Forms.
Yay, finally an artist, I know lots about. Toronto embraced his art. It is a very modern city, and his sculptures work well with all the new and boring buildings.
https://ago.ca/agoinsider/henry-moore-sculpture-centre-re-opening-summer-2016
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Yay!!!!! I’m so glad you are able [and already have!] to see his work live! Those curves huh? Lucky you!!!!!!!!!
Many many hugs and xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
ps I’m so so behind with catching up!!!!!!
That beautiful Moore that was outside the Art Gallery of Ontario for over 40 years is gone.
I guess it ran out of favour? I saw them erecting a new statue.
It is so different. I don’t want to like it, but I’ll give it a chance.
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I’ll take pics for you…of the new statue.
There are worse things that could happen to an art piece like what I read in wikipedia about this : “A second full-size plaster version was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1964: the Tate declined the opportunity to buy it, and it was destroyed in 1971”
Good one huh?!!!!
I hope nothing similar happened to yours!
I’d like to see what replaced it!
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I’m glad you included some of Moore’s drawings, as I was familiar only with his sculptures. Do you know whether the characteristic piercings and hollow spaces in his sculptures symbolized something for him?
A brilliant brilliant artist whose works I have always adored. There’s something just so beautiful in those smooth curves ❤️
I know right? I fell in love with Oval with points first time I saw it and then all his curves 😉! 😊
Some fascinating forms there. I think Vertebrae is my favourite amongst the above collection.
Happy Friday, Marina, and enjoy the weekend ahead.
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It is an amazing piece! Mine -still is- the Oval with points.
Happy Friday to you too, my friend and a wonderful weekend! …not too warm (we’re boiling here!)
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25 degrees here today and cooler at the weekend!
Good to hear… It’s 12 at night and it’s ‘cooled down’ to 34C!!!!! But I hear we get rains from Sunday!
At least it is not too hot at night!
Cooler now! 😉
This is the most fabulous post, Marina. I had never heard of Henry Moore before and your introduction is stellar. I will be coming back to this post in days ahead. Thank you so much for your efforts to bring out this remarkable artist. Hugs coming from afar.
Oh, I’m so glad I introduced him to you, my dearest Rebecca. He’s an artist I know you will appreciate his work!
Many many hugs to you and wishes for a wonderful weekend. 🤗🌻
This is totally awesome Marina! xoxo
Thank you, my sweet friend. He’s an amazing artist. I love his sculptures! xoxoxoxoxo
they are breathtaking, thank you for featuring him dearest Marina xoxoxoxoxo
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