Henry Moore was born in Castleford, Yorkshire in 1894.
After studying at the Leeds School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art in London, he won a scholarship which enabled him to travel to Italy and France.
Moore defined his position in the following terms 'Beauty, in the later Greek or Renaissance sense, is not the aim of my sculpture. Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses.'
In all his work from 1930 onwards there is a growing sense of the material being pushed from within by its own inner energy. He worked with stone, wood, and bronze with equal ease. He also experimented with cement and terracotta.
Best known are his reclining figures, his sketches and drawings form a considerable body of work by themselves. These are works of independent value in which Moore elaborates new forms and techniques.
In 1948 he won the International Sculpture prize in Venice, and five years later the equivalent prize in Sao Paulo.
Moores work is now to be found in museums throughout the world.
(Miners at work, 1942; first edition wartime lithograph; offset, monochrome.)
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