Visit to Henry Moore Foundation 22 June 2022

We had an excellent visit to Henry Moore’s house and sculpture garden at Much Hadham, Hertfordshire on 22nd June.   Since the society’s last visit there, his house, Hoglands, has been bought by the Henry Moore Institute and the contents, including many works of art and objects, collected by or given to him, have been lent by his daughter Mary, placed as they were in his lifetime.   We were given a guided tour in small groups of eight and could see how he was influenced by the art of ancient cultures, by bones, stones and natural objects.  Looking at the roughened sides of a vertebra or the curves of an unknapped flint stone gave us an insight into Moore’s inspiration for his sculptures, which we were able to see and touch in the sculpture gardens.  In addition to the studios and exhibitions, the Aisled Barn has the tapestries he designed on show, which are quite wonderful.

In the exhibition of his career in the 1960s, a quotation from Moore describes his work better than anyone else can.  “People think that abstraction means getting away from reality and it often means precisely the opposite – that you are getting closer to it, away from a visual interpretation but nearer to an emotional understanding.  When I say that I am being abstract, I mean that I am trying to consider but not simply copy nature, and that I am taking account of both the properties of the material I am using and the idea that I wish to release from that material.”

Even if you have visited in the past, it is well worth another trip.  Many thanks to the Arts Society committee, especially Lorraine, for arranging it.  Our society’s visits are always interesting and enjoyable and I have learned so much from them over the years.