Henry Moore Artwork Catalogue
Conscience and Conflict - British Artists and the Spanish Civil War
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Bib. Number0023142
Conscience and Conflict - British Artists and the Spanish Civil War
Author/EditorMARTIN Simon
PublisherPallant House Gallery
Place PublishedChichester
Year2014
Date & Collation(8 November 2014 - 15 February 2015)160pp.Illus.Select bibliography.Timeline.Exhibited works.Credits.Index
LanguageEnglish
More InformationExhibition of the same name considering the wide-ranging responses of British artists to the Spanish Civil War (July 1936 - April 1939). 13 Moore mentioned alongside other artists in an essay titled The Painter's Object by Myfanwy EVANS, 1937. 16 address given by Dolores Ibárruri, Communist MP from Asturia, at the farewell parade for the International Brigades in Barcelona, October 1938 included: "numerous others went out to Spain, including Surrealists S.W Hayter, John Banting and Roland Penrose, while others such as Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein were prevented from doing so by the British Government. The question of direct action versus artistic creation was much discussed, particularly by the left-wing communist artists."
Chapter 2 Artists Takes Sides: The Artists International Association and Support for Spain - Reference to Moore in relation to: 35 a younger generation of modernists who were members of the Artists International Association (AIA), formed 1933; 49 In April/May 1937 the AIA held the first British Artists' Congress and the Exhibition for Unity of Artists for Peace, for Democracy, for Cultural Progress in aid of the Spanish Republic. Moore was on the committee; 53 AIA Portraits for Spain scheme, organised by Ewan Phillips in 1938;
Chapter 5 Dreaming of Spain: The British Surrealist Group Takes Arms - 88 The Declaration of Spain and the British Government's policy of non-intervention, signed by leading artists and poets; 88-90 exhibition Unity of artists for Peace, for Democracy, for Cultural Progress organised by the AIA at Grosvenor Square, London and related broadsheet with motif over text designed by Moore. Two Moore illus: Surrealist Declaration on the Occasion of the Artists' International Congress and Exhibition with motif by Henry Moore 1937. Printed by Farleigh Press; Arms for Spain - Contemporary Poetry and Prose Autumn 1937. 92 illus of Five Figures in a Setting 1937 (HMF 1319), cited as an example of artworks created around this time bridging figuration, abstraction and Surrealism.
Chapter 6 Amongst The Ruins: Guernica and its Impact on British Art and Culture - 118 artists visiting Picasso whilst he was working on Guernica included Moore; 124-125 Motifs that featured in Picasso's studies were a powerful stimulus for British sculptors seeking a vocabulary of forms which convey the darkness and violence of the times. Moore's Three Points 1939-40 cast iron (LH 211) cited as an example and illustrated. Reference to F.E. McWilliam, Moore and A.H. Gerrard visiting a Derbyshire quarry to obtain commercially rejected Hopton Wood stone.
Chapter 7 Helping Them To Forget: Recording and Supporting Spanish Prisoners and Refugees - 141-144 reference to Moore in relation to the plight of Spanish prisoners of War; the psychological state of imprisonment; stringed sculptural forms; the artist's role in defending democracy. Discussion and illus of Head 1939 bronze (LH 195), Spanish Prisoner 1939 (HMF 1464) and The Helmet 1939-40 lead (LH 212). The Spanish Prisoner 1939 lithograph was intended to raise money for Spanish refugees held in detention camps in France, but it was never published due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
In the Timeline reference to Moore: 14 April-5 May; January 1938 Art & Literature; 1939 October Art & Literature.
Exhibition tours to the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 7 March - 7 June 2015.