Henry Moore OM, CH

Composition

1932

© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved

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In Tate Modern

In the Studio: International Surrealism

Free entry
Artist
Henry Moore OM, CH 1898–1986
Medium
African wonderstone on oakwood base
Dimensions
Object: 445 x 457 x 298 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1960
Reference
T00385

Display caption

Moore drew inspiration from many sources, including natural forms and ancient sculptures, as well as responding to the challenge of his contemporaries. Both suggestively organic and abstract, Composition is a striking example of his radical inventiveness, confirming how his work came to epitomise modern art in Britain in the 1930s. He argued that surrealism and abstraction were not incompatible, and wrote of the importance of the ‘nonlogical, instinctive, subconscious part of the mind’ in his artistic process.

Gallery label, October 2016

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Catalogue entry

British Surrealism Direct carving

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