Research Archive of Friends of Harlow Sculpture and Gibberd Gallery
Sep 09
by Admin in Henry Moore 2 comments tags: Upright Motif No 2

Upright Motif No 2

Henry Moore – Upright Motive No 2: Bronze Cross. Bronze cast – Height 330 cm – Water Gardens, Town Centre Bronze Cross was bought by the Trust in 1963 with the help of a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation. This totemic bronze is also known as Upright Motive No 2 as it is part of a series of works made around the same time. Other Upright Motives include Glenkiln Cross located on the Glenkiln Estate in Dumfries and another is sited outside York Minster. The title given to the Harlow sculpture was agreed after consultation with Moore. There is no documentation of this exchange and the sculpture is now referred to its original name. Negotiations for the purchasing of the sculpture were done through Sir Philip Hendy. Moore insisted on the location of the work, the Trust was originally going to site it where Eve now stands. By 1963 the Water Gardens and Civic Center had been completed. Keeping with Gibberd’s vision of a modern day Florence piazza, the Trust wanted the most prestigious sculptures to be located in this general area. At that time they were dealing with a lot of commissions and purchases including Eve, Trigon, both of […]
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Sep 09
by Admin in Artists, Henry Moore 3 comments

Henry Moore

1898 – 1986 Moore was born in Castleford, Yorkshire in 1898. He studied at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art and taught at the Royal College of Art and at Chelsea School of Art. In the 1930s, he lived and worked in Hampstead with a circle of artists which included Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. Moore’s international reputation was firmly established when he won the Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1948. His early major solo exhibitions include the Tate Gallery (1951) and Leicester Galleries (1954). He frequently showed work at Middelheim Park, Antwerp and at Kassel Documenta and had many retrospective exhibitions, including one at Forte di Belvedere in Florence (1972). He carried out numerous commissions including Madonna and Child for St. Peter’s Church in Claydon, Suffolk, a screen and figure for Time-Life Building in London and monumental works for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the Lincoln Centre in New York. Moore received the Companion of Honour in 1955 and the Order of Merit in 1963. His work is in all major national and international collections including the Tate Gallery, the Arts Council of Great Britain, the British Council and the Museum of […]
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Sep 09
by Admin in Henry Moore 2 comments tags: Harlow Family Group

Harlow Family Group

Henry MooreHadene Stone. Carving – Height 170cm 1956 Town Hall, Civic Centre, Water Gardens 2004 Sir Philip Hendy, Chairman of the Trust and then Director of the National Gallery, was a valuable contact with the art world and was instrumental in securing what was to be the most important commission of all – Henry Moore’s Harlow Family Group.Moore was known to several of the Trustees and the idea of approaching him about a possible commission was mooted at the third meeting of the Trust in February 1954. Hendy agreed to ask him. Moore accepted the commission with enthusiasm and suggested making a group ‘conceived on human and classical lines’ for a site near St Mary-at-Latton Church – a location which the artist knew well as he lived near Harlow in Perry Green. It was certainly a coup for Harlow but it was also a landmark for Moore as an early public commission for an outdoor site. Harlow Family Group in its original location by St Mary’s at Latton in the 1950s. Photo: Kim Etheridge Family Group was unveiled on the 17th of May 1956 by the Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, Sir Kenneth Clark, who congratulated Harlow […]
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