Henry Moore

Happy Birthday Henry Moore!! English sculptor born this day in 1898, Henry Moore was the seventh child in a supportive family. He became an elementary school teacher for a time, then joined the army and served in World War I. He was not traumatized by war as so many others; instead it was a springboard for the rest of his life as an artist. He went to Leeds School of Art and then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. This was to be a major turning point for Moore, “I was in a dream of excitement. When I rode on the open top of a bus I felt that I was traveling in Heaven almost. And that the bus was floating on the air.” Although Henry Moore’s sculpture is contemporary, it represents a continuation of traditional sculpture. His goddesses are Earth Mothers rooted in nature. The viewer has a sense that the reclining female figures are of the soil, rising up with great dignity. Parts are exaggerated, bringing us to full understanding of maternal, organic aspects. While his work is abstracted it is not ever totally abstract. His contribution to modern sculpture is immense.