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 […]