moore more I t’s been said that admiration for the work of Henry Moore isn’t quite what it was. Outside of the fine arts’ inner circles, I doubt if that is the case, and in terms of public recognition, he remains one of the few sculptors whose name is still widely familiar. But if it is true, then a new exhibition at the Osborne Samuel Gallery can only be timely, coming as it does the year before the 30th anniversary of the Yorkshireman’s death. The Osborne Samuel show features never previously exhibited work from the collection of Moore’s sister Betty Howarth, as well as significant items from across his long career, from early sketches which show his prodigious talent was surfacing even as a teenager, to lithographs and prints, and sculptures and maquettes. As well as some of Moore’s most significant work from the 1940s, such as the Madonna and Child and Family Group, it will include drawings from his famous wartime London Underground Shelter Sketchbooks.
As the Osborne Samuel Gallery hosts a new exhibition of the work of Henry Moore, Jack Watkins looks back on the sculptor’s life in Hampstead
An earlier boost for the Moore profile came last year with the unveiling of his 1974 bronze sculpture Large Spindle Piece in the forecourt of the newly renovated King’s Cross Station. And as the gallery points out, Moore’s public commissions can be seen in university campuses, parks and major cities in 38 countries around the world, and his works still command high figures at auctions. But the siting of Large Spindle Piece in such a high profile location as King’s Cross is surely as symbolic a statement of his contribution to modern British culture as is the recent placing of a statue of Sir John Betjeman on the concourse of the neighbouring, similarly revitalised, St Pancras Station. Hampstead dwellers are in little danger of forgetting Moore’s name, anyhow. High up on the Heath, on the meadows of Kenwood House, above the lake, is his Two Piece Reclining Figure No 5. The location is appropriate in its inappropriateness. Few would describe the terrain of Hampstead’s