Summary
This talk offers a survey of the work of Britain’s most prestigious sculptor, whose work moved from realism to abstraction and whose war drawings captured the trauma of the Blitz.
Synopsis
Today, Henry Moore is considered as the ‘Grand Old Man’ of British twentieth century sculpture, and his works can be seen in prestigious locations around the world. But his career spans an era of remarkable artistic change in Britain, with public sculpture moving from the formal academic style of the nineteenth century to the abstraction and modernism of the Swinging Sixties and beyond. This talk considers his career against the turbulent backdrop of the mid-twentieth century, showing how he explored the art of other ages and cultures alongside the work of Renaissance masters such as Masaccio and Michelangelo. The popularity of his Shelter Sketchbooks and mining drawings during World War Two helped bring about a wider appreciation of modern art in Britain, while his sculptures – influenced by his profound love of landscape – have become some of the most popular in the country.
