About
A giant of modern sculpture, Henry Moore engaged the abstract, the surreal, the primitive, and the classical in vigorous corporeal forms that are as accessible and familiar as they are avant-garde. His large-scale works celebrated the power of organic imagery at a time when traditional representation was largely eschewed by the vanguard art establishment. Their overwhelming physicality and forceful presence promotes a charged relation between sculpture, site, and viewer.
Moore was born in 1898 in Castleford, England, and died in 1986 in Much Hadham, England. After teaching at Castleford Grammar School, England, Moore began studying at the Leeds School of Art in 1919. From 1921 to 1924 he studied at the Royal Academy of Art, London, with traveling scholarships to Paris (1923) and Italy (1925). He then taught at the Royal Academy of Art from 1924 to 1932, and from 1932 to 1939 at the Chelsea School of Art, London. Recent solo exhibitions include the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2001); Henry Moore: Uma Retrospetiva, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2005, traveled to Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro; and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília); Moore and Mexico, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico (2005); Imaginary Landscapes, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2005); War and Utility, Imperial War Museum, London (2007); Natural Form, Tate Liverpool, England (2007); Moore and Mythology, Musée Bourdelle, Paris (2008); Mother and Child: Henry Moore’s West Dean Tapestries, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa (2008); Moore in America, New York Botanical Garden, New York (2008); Henry Moore and the Challenge of Architecture, Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki (2008); Henry Moore Sheep, Saffron Walden Museum, England (2009); Musée Rodin, Paris (2010); Tate Britain, London (2010); Blitz and Blockade: Henry Moore at the Hermitage, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia (2011); Prints and Portfolios, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, England (2011); Henry Moore and the Classic Canon of Modern Sculpture, Kremlin Museums, Moscow (2012); Outside, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2013); and Back to a Land, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England (2015).
#HenryMoore
Website
Exhibitions
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2019
The Fall 2019 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring a detail from Sinking (2019) by Nathaniel Mary Quinn on its cover.
Nature and Inspiration: Henry Moore at Houghton Hall
Sebastiano Barassi reflects on the centrality of nature in the work of Henry Moore—as form, material, inspiration, and site.
An Evolving Legacy
A look inside the Henry Moore Foundation, their new initiatives, and what’s next.
Fairs, Events & Announcements
Conference
Shaping the Future That Was
Henry Moore: The Sixties
Friday, September 2, 2022, 10:15am–5pm
Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England
www.henry-moore.org
Join Henry Moore Studios & Gardens for an academic conference exploring some of the themes in the exhibition Henry Moore: The Sixties. A series of lectures by international speakers will examine the show’s concerns within the wider context of the decade, including the emergence of new art movements in the 1960s, the climate in which Moore’s works were received, and how subjects such as nature and technology reflected radical changes in the artistic landscape.
Installation view, Henry Moore: The Sixties, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England, April 1–October 30, 2022. Artwork: Reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Photo: Rob Harris
Art Fair
Frieze Masters 2021
October 13–17, 2021, booth C02
Regent’s Park, London
www.frieze.com
Gagosian is pleased to participate in Frieze Masters 2021 with Material Process. Conceived, carved, cast, or constructed—sculpture remained a continuously strong tradition throughout the twentieth century in Britain. Artists such as Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Michael Craig-Martin, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, and Douglas Gordon have extended this lineage, often focusing on human figures or body parts, transforming materials and techniques, including language, into a widely diverse practice that is internationally recognized.
Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Plaster Torso), 1993 © Rachel Whiteread. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates
Art Fair
Art Basel Hong Kong 2021
May 21–23, 2021, booth 1d30
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
www.artbasel.com
Gagosian is pleased to participate in Art Basel Hong Kong with a presentation of modern and contemporary painting and sculpture by gallery artists. New paintings by Georg Baselitz, Alex Israel, Ed Ruscha, and Sarah Sze are featured alongside exceptional works in a range of mediums by Louise Bonnet, Theaster Gates, Henry Moore, Nam June Paik, and others, uncovering formal and conceptual innovations and associations that span genres and aesthetic approaches.
Georg Baselitz, Noch ein Orangenesser, 2020 © Georg Baselitz
Museum Exhibitions
Closed
Escala: Escultura (1945–2000)
March 31–July 2, 2023
Fundación Juan March, Madrid
www.march.es
This exhibition, whose title translates to Scale: Sculpture, begins with a reflection on the effects of the Second World War on a number of artists and their conception of sculptural space as refuge. The role of scale in sculpture is examined, and in an echo of the expanded meaning of sculpture today, the exhibition extends beyond the gallery walls, into the gardens and the surrounding streets. Work by Chris Burden, Alberto Giacometti, Donald Judd, Henry Moore, and Richard Serra is included.
Chris Burden, Small Skyscraper (Quasi Legal Los Angeles County), 2002 © 2023 Chris Burden/Licensed by the Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Brian Guido
Closed
Henry Moore
The Sixties
April 1–October 30, 2022
Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England
www.henry-moore.org
In the 1960s, Henry Moore embraced new materials and techniques that enabled him to work on an increasingly monumental scale. He incorporated a greater degree of abstraction in his sculpture and satisfied an enormous global demand for his art, which sometimes generated controversy. This exhibition features rarely seen sculptures, drawings, graphics, and a wealth of archival material drawn entirely from the Henry Moore Foundation’s collections.
Installation view, Henry Moore: The Sixties, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England, April 1–October 30, 2022. Artwork: Reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Photo: Rob Harris
Closed
Textiles de Artistas
March 12–June 19, 2022
Fundacíon Barrié, A Coruña, Spain
fundacionbarrie.org
This exhibition explores the history of twentieth-century art through fabrics designed by artists, with unique examples from artistic movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop art. Comprised of more than one hundred works, the show presents an important overview of weaving as a popular art form in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. Work by Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Sterling Ruby, and Andy Warhol is included.
Closed
Au rendez-vous des amis
Modernism in Dialogue with Contemporary Art from the Sammlung Goetz, Part 2
August 6, 2021–January 16, 2022
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
www.pinakothek-der-moderne.de
This exhibition, which includes more than two hundred works, presents works from the Sammlung Goetz in the Pinakothek der Moderne in order to explore the diverse relationships between classical modernism and contemporary art, examining how avant-garde artists paved the way for a more liberal treatment of color, line, and perspective, and outlined groundbreaking ideas for a new social community. Work by Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, and Tatiana Trouvé is included.
Installation view, Au rendez-vous des amis: Modernism in Dialogue with Contemporary Art from the Sammlung Goetz, Part 2, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, August 8, 2021–January 16, 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Stand Douglas, © Tatiana Trouvé, © Egon Schiele. Photo: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Haydar Koyupinar