henry moore

English - English

Definition of henry moore in English English dictionary: (1898-1986) English sculptor and artist; a British sculptor considered by many people to be the most important British sculptor of the 20th century. He made many large sculptures of people in a partly abstract style, especially of women lying down (1898-1986). born July 30, 1898, Castleford, Eng. died Aug. 31, 1986, Much Hadham English sculptor and graphic artist. The son of a coal miner, he was enabled to study at the Royal College of Art by a rehabilitation grant after being wounded in World War I. His early works were strongly influenced by the Mayan sculpture he saw in a Paris museum. From 1931 on he experimented with abstract art, combining abstract shapes with the human figure and at times leaving the human figure behind altogether. When materials grew scarce during World War II, he concentrated on drawings of Londoners sheltering from bombs in Underground stations. Commissions for a Madonna and Child and a family group turned his style from abstraction to the more humanistic approach that became the basis of his international reputation. He returned to experimentation in the 1950s with angular, pierced standing figures in bronze. Much of his work is monumental, and he is particularly well known for a series of reclining nudes. Among his major commissions were sculptures for UNESCO's Paris headquarters (1957-58), Lincoln Center (1963-65), and the National Gallery of Art (1978)

henry moore