Henry Moore

(1898 – 1968)
Henry Moore was a pupil and later a teacher at the Royal College of Art. He held his first one man show in 1928 and Epstein purchased Baby Suckling. In 1932 Epstein wrote the prefatory notes to Moore’s second exhibition which was held in the Leicester Galleries. Epstein declared that Moore was vitally important for the future of sculpture in Britain, and bought two pieces from the exhibition – Half-figure and Mother and Child. The exhibition was attacked in the British press and Moore’s teaching job was not reviewed. He was offered a job by the Chelsea School of Art, and worked there until the School was evacuated during the Second World War.

Moore’s first American exhibition took place in 1936. 1948 Moore was asked to take part in the first post war Biennale in Venice, and carried off the main prize for sculpture. In the 1950s he began to shift from direct carving to modelling. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1955, and a member of the Order of Merit in 1963.