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| Henry Moore, Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9, 1968 |
Henry Moore's Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 (1968) kept me company on many Sunday afternoon visits to the Kansas City Sculpture Park along with the dynamic form of his standing female figure Large Interior Form (1981), which never ceased to amaze me no matter how many times I viewed it. I especially loved the way his monumental bronze sculptures, with their sensual curves, flirted simultaneously with abstraction and figuration. Although I have never viewed Moore's biomorphic forms as radical creations, Christopher Bedford's review of "Henry Moore" in Art in America has persuaded me to look at Moore's work with fresh eyes.
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| Henry Moore, Large Interior Form, 1981 |
"Henry Moore" was the title of a major survey at the Tate Britain in London last summer. According to Bedford the exhibition, which featured about 150 sculptures and drawings by the artist, was an attempt to reposition Moore among the pantheon of twentieth-century modern sculptors (1). Born in 1898, the English artist was one of the most renowned sculptors of his day. Unfortunately his reputation suffered a rapid decline after his death in 1986. Apparently art historians dismissed his non-threatening natural forms because they became too popular and ubiquitous. However, over the last ten years, Moore and his artworks have been undergoing reevaluation thanks in part to new scholarship and a group of younger artists, such as Matthew Monahan, Aaron Curry and Thomas Houseago, who are experimenting with Moore's sculptural vocabulary (2).
In the online introduction for the show, the museum boldly declared that Moore, "radical, experimental and avant-garde…was one of Britain's greatest artists" (3). Only time will tell whether or not the survey and the subsequent articles and books will significantly elevate Moore's rank within the art historical canon. Neither his neglected past nor his auspicious present status will alter my opinion; he will always be one of my favorite sculptors. Still Bedford's article has made me reconsider Moore's sculptures, particularly in light of the artist's biography. Moore served in World War I and was an official war artist during World War II (4). The figures I have always found pleasing now appear distorted and grotesque. Could his female forms represent causalities of war? This question and many others are sure to be the subject of many future debates as museums continue to mount exhibitions of Moore's artworks.
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| Henry Moore, Upright Motive No. 9, 1979 |
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(2) Ibid.
Fascinating post, Susan. It made me look again at Henry Moore.
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