Henry Moore. Sharing Form

28 May – 4 Sep 2022

Henry Moore. Sharing Form

A comprehensive survey spanning six decades extends across all five gallery spaces, in addition to an open-air presentation of seminal works.

Hauser & Wirth Somerset presents a major exhibition of works by Henry Moore, curated by Hannah Higham of the Henry Moore Foundation in collaboration with the artist’s daughter Mary Moore. A comprehensive survey spanning six decades extends across all five gallery spaces, in addition to an open-air presentation of seminal works including: ‘The Arch’ (1963/69), ‘Large Interior Form’ (1953 – 1954) and ‘Locking Piece’ (1962 – 1963). Alongside the exhibition, the gallery launches a far-reaching education and events programme, including a new Education Lab in partnership with the Arts University Bournemouth.

The exhibition takes as its starting point the artist’s early fascination with the Neolithic site of Stonehenge and continued exploration of the upright abstract form. Moore first encountered the prehistoric monuments under the moonlight as a young man in 1921; fifty-two years later he embarked on a series of lithographs on the subject. Moore was fascinated by the relationship between the towering masses of ancient stone, their size and siting in the landscape, and the mysterious ‘depths and distances’ evoked on his returning visits. For Moore, the power and intensity of such large forms set against land and sky precipitated career-long investigations into scale, material and volume and the juxtaposition of art and nature, which is presented throughout the exhibition.

Alongside Moore’s most celebrated works, the viewer is immersed in a deeply personal selection of artworks and objects curated by Mary Moore, set within the centre of the exhibition. The collection contains almost 100 items from her father’s studio and home, providing an insight into the working life of the sculptor and intimate memories she holds through these objects. The unique experience brings together Moore’s visual library and the vocabulary of ideas that he developed during his working life.

As visitors arrive at the Threshing Barn, they encounter four towering bronze Upright Motive sculptures. Between 1955 and 1979 Moore created nine large-scale Upright Motives and a substantial group of related maquettes and reliefs in bronze and plaster. Presented together, the interplay of these works is reminiscent of prehistoric monoliths or Celtic cruciform, creating relationships between the forms and the spaces between them. The motives are ambiguously figurative, while firmly rooted, evoking the organic growth of trees and stalagmites. Deep grooves and intriguing orifices encourage close-up inspection, while moving through and around them collectively causes reflection on different modes of human expression.

The Workshop Gallery features Moore’s significant series of etchings and lithographs depicting the site of Stonehenge, dating from 1972. In these works, we see Moore continuing to explore the relationship of the stones to each other and to the spectator, from tightly framed examinations of surface to wider views. During the early 20th Century there was an increasing interest in similar Neolithic sites, thanks to recent archaeological discoveries. Stonehenge was viewed as a highly wrought work of art, its powerful and primal forms capable of soliciting a profound emotional response.