AT TRINITY OCTOBER 2022
There is a complicated story relating to this sculpture by Henry Moore. The story begins when Henry Moore provided on loan one of his masterpieces, The King and Queen, to Trinity and placed it on the Library Forecourt where it remained for several years after the end of a specific exhibition. However, Moore was not at all not happy with the location because he felt that there was a conflict with the forecourt lanterns and because there was not enough sunlight on the north facing forecourt. Eventually Trinity obtained another work by Henry Moore, for which a location in Library Square was agreed and where it has remained.
Much time and effort was devoted to finding a suitable a replacement for the King and Queen and eventually a sculpture Pomodoro was permanently installed on the forecourt.
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.
His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures. Moore’s works are usually suggestive of the female body, apart from a phase in the 1950s when he sculpted family groups. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his Yorkshire birthplace.
Moore became well known through his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures, and was instrumental in introducing a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. His ability in later life to fulfil large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy. Despite this, he lived frugally; most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.
