Henry Moore OM, CH
1898–1986
© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved
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© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved
License this image
In Tate Britain
Spotlights
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In Tate Britain
Figure Totem Beast
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In Tate Britain
Walk Through British Art
Free entryBiography
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. 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. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his birthplace, Yorkshire.
Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a coal miner. He 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 fulfil 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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Read full Wikipedia entryArtworks
Henry Moore OM, CH Family Group
1949, cast 1950–1
Henry Moore OM, CH King and Queen
1952–3, cast 1957
Artist as subject
Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean Hornstein
25 November [1957]
Kenneth Armitage, recipient: Joan Augusta Monro Moore Letter from Kenneth Armitage to Joan Moore, addressed Catterick Camp, Yorkshire
[1941]
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipients: Ben Nicholson OM, Dame Barbara Hepworth Postcard from Henry Moore to Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth
12 August 1936
Mrs. Betty Tinsley, recipient: Kenneth Clark Copy letter from Kenneth Clark to Mrs Tinsley, Henry Moore’s Secretary
14 August 1973
Film and audio
Watch
Poet Cecilia Knapp responds to Henry Moore’s Mask
To celebrate this year’s National Poetry Day, poet and performer, Cecilia Knapp responds with an original piece to Henry ...
Watch
Meet 500 years of British Art - Room: Henry Moore
Chris Stephens explores the work of Henry Moore, the first permanent display of his work in London
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His Darkened Imagination: Surrealist Moore
His Darkened Imagination: Surrealist Moore; Tate past event audio recording
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Henry Moore on Film – Part 1
This study day explores different approaches to filming Henry Moore and his work, with rare screenings and contributions from art ...
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Henry Moore: Curator's Talk
Chris Stephens, curator of the Henry Moore exhibition, discusses Moore's work in the context of twentieth-century history.
Features
Tate Etc
Details, Details: Henry Moore's The Pantaloon 1982
The potential richness at the end of life
Look Closer
Henry Moore's sculptures
Where did Henry Moore get his ideas and inspiration for his sculptures?
Art Term
Form
In relation to art the term form has two meanings: it can refer to the overall form taken by the ...
Art Term
Direct carving
Direct carving is an approach to making carved sculpture where the actual process of carving suggests the final form rather ...
Art Term
Geometry of Fear
Geometry of Fear was a term coined by the critic Herbert Read in 1952 to describe the work of a ...
Art Term
The Seven and Five Society
Formed in London in 1919 The Seven and Five Society was initially a traditional group and can be seen as ...
Art Term
War artists
War artists are artists who are commissioned through an official scheme to record the events of war
Read
Lost Art: Henry Moore
The Gallery of Lost Art is an immersive, online exhibition that tells the fascinating stories of artworks that have disappeared ...
Tate Papers
Scale in Sculpture: The Sixties and Henry Moore: Rothenstein Lecture
How do size and scale matter to the sculpture of Henry Moore? This paper offers a preliminary investigation of this ...
Tate Papers
Tate Papers no.15: Spring 2011
Read about the work of Carsten Höller, Henry Moore and David Musgrave in this issue, along with articles about the ...
Sketches, letters, etc.
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Michael Ernest Sadler Letter from Henry Moore to Michael Ernest Sadler
10 March 1937
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Lady Cecilia Sempill Letter from Henry Moore to Cecilia Sempill
26 August 1927
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