Moore, Henry, 1898–1986, English sculptor. Moore's early sculpture was angular and rough, strongly influenced by pre-Columbian art. About 1928 he evolved a more personal style which has gained him an international reputation. His works, in wood, stone, and cement (done without clay models), are characterized by their smooth, organic shape and often include empty hollows, which he showed to have as meaningful a shape as solid mass. During World War II, when materials for carving were scarce, he was commissioned by the government to do a series of drawings of the London underground bomb shelters (1940). His favorite sculptural subjects were the mother and child and the reclining figure. Moore executed an abstract screen and a reclining figure for the Time-Life Building in London (1952–53), a bronze group for Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts in New York City (1962–65), and a monument for the Univ. of Chicago (1964–66). In the Art Gallery of Toronto, a gallery is dedicated entirely to his works.
See his autobiography, ed. by J. Hedgecoe (1968); a collection of his writings, ed. by P. James (1967); biography by R. Berthond (1987); studies by E. Neumann (1984) and A. Bowness (1986).
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