Hauser & Wirth Somerset exhibits 60 years of Henry Moore's career
Henry Moore - Helmet Head - Two Standing Figures
From 28 May to 4 September 2022, Hauser & Wirth Somerset presents "Henry Moore. Sharing Form", an exhibition organised in collaboration with the Henry Moore Foundation and the artist's daughter, Mary Moore.
Source: Hauser & Wirth. Image: Henry Moore, "Helmet Head No. 4: Interior-Exterior", 1963. Bronze. Photograph: Nigel Moore ·· "Two Standing Figures", 1981. Travertine marble. Photograph: Jonty Wilde.
Widely recognised as one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century, Henry Moore (1898-1986) has been the subject of several relatively recent exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth, including "Henry Moore. Tapestries" in Hong Kong (2021) or "Henry Moore: Myths and Poetry" in Zürich (2017). The exhibition now opening in Somerset is one of the most comprehensive, covering six decades of the sculptor's career.
The starting point for the exhibition is Moore's interest in the Neolithic monument of Stonehenge, which he visited in his youth and which, half a century later, would inspire a series of lithographs. According to the gallery, "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 are presented throughout the exhibition"
One room in the exhibition includes four imposing bronze sculptures from his "Upright Motives" series, whose interplay together "is reminiscent of prehistoric monoliths or Celtic cruciform, creating relationships between the forms and the spaces between them." Another room, on the other hand, includes intimate and domestic objects from the artist's family home, selected by his daughter, Mary Moore. Many of these objects "demonstrate Moore’s engagement with ethnography, including Mayan, Aztec, Oceanic and Classical" according to the gallery.
Another room shows how Moore "repeatedly explored the theme of internal / external forms, enjoying the visual excitement generated by presenting one form through another." The gallery notes that Moore, finding formal similarities between armatures and the natural forms of skulls and shells, visited London's science and natural history museums several times. He also visited the Wallace Collection, after which, fascinated by the helmets on display there, he "made a series of helmet head sculptures, drawings and related works which powerfully convey protection, enclosure and strength". Several of these works, such as "The Helmet" (1939-40) and "Helmet Head No. 4: Interior-Exterior" (1963), are included in the exhibition.

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