You could bump into one in any of a dozen public spaces across London: in a park, a college courtyard, in front of a hospital or on an estate. There’s even one in a church in the City. Henry Moore’s monumental sculptures, typically of reclining figures, interlocking shapes or standing groups have long intrigued, inspired and provoked controversy.
And now there are more than 30 of Moore’s works gathered together in Kew Gardens, which is showcasing a once-in-a-generation presentation of his practice. Set against Kew’s historic landscapes and broad sweeping vistas are large forms and semi-abstract figures, but also, in Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew, smaller wood and stone carvings, prints and drawings.
Moore was born in 1898 in Castleford near Leeds and was one of eight children. His father was a coal miner and ambitious for his children. He was particularly keen that they became teachers. Moore’s drawing abilities were quickly noticed at school, and he was encouraged to try painting and pottery. Sent to France during World War One, in November 1917 he suffered a mustard gas attack at Bourlon Wood during the Battle of Cambrai. He later studied at Leeds School of Art and then, on a scholarship, at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.
Already fascinated by the shapes he saw in landscape and formations he found in fossils and stones, Moore focused on working with clay and on carving. He would spend his free time wandering the British Museum, captivated by the African and Mexican sculptures on display. A part-time teaching role at the RCA gave him some financial security to produce pieces for sale.
Between 1924 and 1928, Moore lived and worked in Hammersmith, specifically 3 Grove Studios, Adie Road. A local heritage plaque marks the building. After his marriage to Irina Radetzky, a Ukrainian refugee from the chaos of the Russian revolution and herself a talented artist, they moved to a larger space on Parkhill Road, Belsize Park.
In 1928, Moore secured his first public commission. He and five other avant-garde artists were tasked with carving giant reliefs symbolising the four winds to adorn the new headquarters of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London – principal forerunner of the London Underground – at 55 Broadway, near St James’s Park. The pieces were to sit on a band of stone 80 feet high but had to be visible from street level.
Moore was given the West Wind, which he carved out of Portland stone in three sections. The central section of the figure weighed over two tons and the three together were more than two metres long and one metre high. Once finished, they were hoisted into place and fixed. But there was a problem with the naval area, so Moore was forced to go up in a cradle, winching himself from side to side, and hammer out a belly button as the cradle zigzagged all over the place.
While Moore’s work had admirers, many commentators were hostile. His more abstract pieces were deemed inaccessible and his human forms, lumpy and lacking beauty. Taking his niece to see West Wind, Moore asked a stranger who was gazing up at the sculpture what he thought of it, the stranger replied: “Who did it? Bloody awful isn’t it!”
Moore rejected the idea that his work should, as with classical sculpture, seek anatomical perfection and be purely representational. He spoke of universal shapes to which everybody is subconsciously conditioned, so his artwork was not aimed at reproducing natural appearances but to inspire feelings that have a spiritual dimension.
His reclining figures, a dominant theme of his career, with their fluent and rhythmic forms, reflect an ancient rolling landscape. His more abstract pieces create a tension between the forms natural to the material and the concepts of the imagination. “An artwork should be an expression of the significance of life,” Moore said, “a stimulation to a greater effort in living.”
In September 1931, Moore was appointed to run the sculpture department at Chelsea School of Art, where he taught for two days a week. He had a small number of dedicated students, and some of the painters would come by to try their hand too. He was remembered as a thoughtful and supportive teacher, but Moore’s commitment was always to his own practice, though he did enjoy the pub lunches down the King’s Road.
Following the start of the Blitz in September 1940, the school was moved out to Northampton, but Moore refused to follow. One evening, returning home by Tube, he noticed people bedding down along the platforms to take shelter from the overnight bombing raids. Conscious of the need to preserve the privacy of the sleepers, Moore would commit to memory their positions and expressions and spend the next days sketching.
His Tube shelter drawings captured the stoic suffering of people at a time of great danger. They resonate with the experience of so many today who face potential destruction delivered from above in an arbitrary, senseless fashion. The drawings and others he did at the time showing the damage wrought on London were displayed along the works of other war artists at the National Gallery and proved hugely popular. They became his most famous works.
Moore’s own house and studio suffered bomb damage, so he and Irina moved to a dilapidated farmhouse in Hertfordshire, which they restored and where they lived and worked for the rest of their lives. Moore achieved international recognition when a collection of his works won him the International Sculpture Prize at the 1948 Venice Biennale.
Controversy and criticism continued to dog his career, yet his work became the go-to for many international corporations looking to project a modernist, progressive cultural awareness. Banks, insurance companies, art galleries and UNESCO commissioned and bought his creations.
For Moore, sculpture was an art of the open air. “Daylight, sunlight is necessary to it and for me it’s best setting and complement is nature,” he said, in 1951. “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.”
Now there’s an opportunity to see his work in Kew’s majestic grounds. Make up your own mind and hopefully find something that speaks to you. The Henry Moore: Monumental Nature exhibition is at Kew Gardens until January, 2027.
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