Henry Moore

Henry Moore
Moore in 1975, by Allan Warren
Birth name	Henry Spencer Moore
Born	30 July 1898
Died	31 August 1986 (aged 88) Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, England
Nationality	English
Field	sculpture, drawing
Training	Leeds
Movement	Bronze Sculpture, Modernism
Works	Reclining Figures, 1930s – 1980s
Influenced by	Michelangelo, Giovanni Pisano, Gothic art, Pre-Columbian art
Influenced	Sir Anthony Caro, Phillip King, Isaac Witkin (former assistants)
Awards	OM CH FBA

Reclining Figure 1951, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Double Oval, 1966, Henry Moore Foundation

Hill Arches, 1972, National Museum, Canberra

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English sculptor and artist in the modern art genre. He was best known for his abstract monumental sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art.

Family Group (1950) bronze, The Barclay School, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Moore's first large-scale commission after World War II.

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 mining engineer. He became well-known through his larger-scale abstract cast bronze and carved marble sculptures. His ability in later life to fulfill large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy. Yet he lived frugally and most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.

The Art Gallery of Ontario's Henry Moore collection is the largest public collection of his works in the world.