Henry Moore is one of those significant artists of the 20th century whose name you probably don’t recognize. He was, perhaps, the greatest contributor to England’s artistic movements during his time. The current exhibit at the National Gallery of Art is an extensive collection of Moore’s work spanning his entire career. Rarely does one find an exhibit with such a large body of work, that serves to chronicle the growth and change in Moore’s approach to art. The exhibit highlights a number of the groundbreaking drawings and sculpture that mark Moore’s late modernist style.
Ironically, though Moore fully embraced the modernist and surrealist movements, liberating himself from academic traditionalism, his subject matter remained largely confined and traditional throughout his entire career. He constantly approaches the subject of reclining women in new ways, along with scenes of mother and child, both subjects that have long been a part of western artistic tradition. Beyond the limited subject matter and repetitive nature of Moore’s art, there is a steady growth and change to be discovered and appreciated throughout Moore’s lifetime.
Though the large-scale work produced at the end of Moore’s career may be the most celebrated, some of the most intriguing sculpture was generated during his early years as a fresh newcomer to modernism and surrealism. Smaller and easily identifiable sculptures at the beginning of the exhibit present a visible quality of exploration that his later pieces lack.
Moore’s primary inspiration apart from European traditionalism was ancient, non-European, especially Mexican art that he discovered at the British Museum. From there, he discovered artists like Brancusi who were already embracing bolder and more modern forms of artistic expression. It was a pre-Columbian carving of a rain spirit that inspired him to create his first reclining woman, a landmark in his career. “Reclining Woman” was a foundation from which he would later explore the reduction, simplification and abstraction of the human figure. Moore’s surrealist tendencies demonstarte the influence of fellow artists like Picasso. It is easy to linger here, in this section of the exhibit, which features Moore’s work from the 1930s. The variety of materials helps diversify his work, and the exploration into surrealism, which is still very clearly experimentation without conviction, make the sculptures interesting to analyze.
Though Moore will forever be remembered for this type of sculpture, his fame during his lifetime was significantly accentuated by his World War II inspired two-dimensional pieces. Even the highlights of his drawing career do not, however, compare to his sculpture. While his drawings may accent the sculptural body of the exhibit, you will probably spend little time paying attention to what is on the walls, relative to his other offerings.
The war affected Moore’s sculpture as well. This, along with the birth of his child, led to both dark and disturbing, and then hopeful images. Both of these contrasting themes were explored with less abstraction and more emphasis on recognizable human form. Arguably less bold than most of his work, this stage in Moore’s career was short-lived. As soon as he had the opportunity, he fed off of his popularity as a post-war artist to tackle bold, large-scale, outdoor sculpture.
The exhibit features one of Moore’s large, bronze pieces from the 1970s: “Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece,” greets visitors to the East Building of the National Gallery. His large-scale sculptures, considered his greatest success, are bold and daring. One of his last representations of “Mother and Child” depicts the mother as a somewhat seductive reclining woman, her arm around an unassuming, more abstract figure.
Feeding off of many different influences and inspirations, Moore’s career is, in many ways, a journey of discovering and exploring that line between abstraction and figuration and then walking it firmly. He gave way to the term “biomorphism” as an explanation of the accomplishment imbedded in his art. Though today we are all too familiar with Moore’s contemporaries and the products of their radicalism, this exhibit could contain elements with which you are unfamiliar. Sculpture is refreshing next to the abundance of radical paintings born of Moore’s generation. For those who embrace the accomplishments of the most significant and well-known modernists, Moore’s work will have a familiar feel with a refreshing change of pace. There is even a video to assist in getting to know this not-so-well-remembered (by our generation, at least) artistic genius. As one critic in the video exclaims, Moore proved, among the success of the French and Americans of his time, that “You can be an artist, and you can be English.” Amazing.
