Our 2019 exhibition, Henry Moore Drawings: The Art of Seeing brings together over 100 drawings, made over seven decades, and is the largest exhibition of Moore’s drawings in over 40 years. The exhibition explores the many different ways in which Moore used drawing, starting with his life studies of the 1920s and ending with the touching and rarely seen late works. Most of the drawings are from the collection of the Henry Moore Foundation, but the exhibition also includes important loans from Tate, Imperial War Museums, the British Museum and the Henry Moore Family Collection.

Henry Moore (1898-1986) was a prolific and innovative draughtsman. Today he is best known for his sculpture, but it was his wartime drawings of Londoners sheltering in the Underground that first brought him widespread public recognition. Over a career that spanned seven decades he produced more than 7,500 drawings, in a wide range of styles and techniques.

Moore used drawing to observe and reinterpret the world around him and to think visually. He valued its versatility and immediacy and used it for a variety of purposes from the study of natural and sculptural forms to the creation of highly finished works.

This exhibition explores the many ways in which Moore used drawing throughout his career. From the life studies of the 1920s to the rarely seen late drawings of the 1980s, his interest in the medium was informed by an ever expanding universe of ideas, working methods and formal languages. Always animated by a deep love for drawing, Moore often used it in quite experimental ways to continually push the boundaries of his creativity.