Don’t miss The Modern Idol.

Until 6 February 2022, the Romanian National Museum of Art (MNAR) and the Institute of the Present are hosting the exhibition titled The Modern Idol. Henry Moore in the Eastern Bloc, which presents a contextualisation of the Henry Moore tour of 1966-67, when the famous artist travelled to Bucharest, Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest.

By Oana Vasiliu

Explore the art of Henry Moore

Until 6 February 2022, the Romanian National Museum of Art (MNAR) and the Institute of the Present are hosting the exhibition titled The Modern Idol. Henry Moore in the Eastern Bloc, which presents a contextualisation of the Henry Moore tour of 1966-67, when the famous artist travelled to Bucharest, Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest.

“The Modern Idol. Henry Moore in the Eastern Bloc” is a collective research project initiated by art historians Alina Serban (Bucharest), Daniel Véri (Budapest) and Lujza Kotočová (Prague) and it contains a series of interviews with witnesses of the exhibition in Romania, the Czech Republic, and Hungary: art historians Ioana Vlasiu, Krisztina Passuth, Márta Kovalovszky, and Péter Kovács; painters Constantin Flondor and László Gyémánt; sculptors Grigorie Minea, Peter Jacobi, and György Jovánovics; and intermediate artist Adéla Matasová.Krisztina Passuth, and art historians Márta Kovalovszky & Péter Kovács. At the time believed to be the artist’s largest international retrospective, organised by the British Council in collaboration with local authorities in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, the exhibition featured works— sculptures and drawings—spanning over five decades, from 1924 until 1964.

The current research explores the stories of these shows in Bucharest, Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest, investigating their role in taming the political tensions and the conflicting ideologies after 1960. “The exhibitions were the result of a cultural exchange programme with the Eastern Bloc managed by the British Council: in exchange for hosting Moore’s show, these countries had the chance to organise similar events in the UK. The timeline presented in the current exhibition explores such bilateral connections between the UK and the three socialist countries. Furthermore, it highlights events related to Moore that took place in the Eastern Bloc (Poland, Bulgaria) and Yugoslavia,” the organisers note.

The reception of Moore’s work was different in each of these countries due to the specific artistic and political conditions and the varying degree of awareness towards Moore’s oeuvre, acquired earlier through official or unofficial channels. “The discussions surrounding the exhibition did nonetheless offer evidence that the local artistic and cultural life was stimulated by Moore’s presence, in some cases shaping individual artistic careers or reinforcing ideas and tendencies already present within the cultural landscape of these countries in the 1960s. Accordingly, Moore’s exhibitions constituted a shared tool for both British and local authorities in their own cultural diplomacy,” organisers add.

Henry Moore’s touring exhibition represents an exceptional moment in the post-war history of art in the Eastern Bloc. Revisiting such an event from a transnational point of view can significantly contribute to the understanding of the intricacies of 1960s cultural politics. At the time, MNAR bought a sculpture by Henry Moore, which is still in the museum’s collection.

Henry Moore is considered to be the catalyst of the British sculptural renaissance that followed his rise to fame in his own lifetime.

In 1977, he founded the Henry Moore Foundation, which still deals with the heritage. In August 1986, Henry Moore died in Perry Green at a moment seen as the pinnacle of his career. A few years before his death, he had become the best-selling living artist in auctions. Sales records were broken in 2012 when the 1951 piece “Reclining Figure: Festival” sold for USD 19.1 million. He is the second most expensive British artist, after Francis Bacon.

At the time of his death, Moore had created just over 1,000 sculptures, over 700 graphics, and almost 5,500 drawings, leaving an incredible wealth of material to be remembered. To a certain extent, Moore secured his own legacy with great acts of generosity, particularly through gifts to public collections.