The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is hosting a landmark exhibition of monumental works by Henry Moore. 28 large-scale bronzes have been exhibited throughout Kew’s unique 300 acre World Heritage Site. There have been previous exhibitions of Moore’s work in the capital but never on such a scale and in a landscape setting and the exhibition will include some pieces that have never been seen in London. Sculpting was Moore’s primary interest and he saw the world around him as an ever-changing inspirational display of natural forms.

Each site at Kew has been specifically selected to ensure maximum impact complementing and enhancing the 300 year old gardens. The selection includes Moore’s familiar figurative themes, as well as more rugged powerful works that hold their own alongside the historic buildings, exceptional landscapes and vistas at Kew.

Moore felt that sculpture should not be taken-in immediately, but reveal itself gradually - that it demands a commitment in terms of time and space. He declared that, ’Sculpture is like a journey. You have a different view as you return. The three-dimensional world is full of surprises in a way that a two-dimensional world could never be’ (1962). Moore’s investigation of form whether in juxtaposition with other forms - a large form in relation to a small one and by extension a mother and child, internal/external forms or interlocking forms - preoccupied the artist for over sixty years.

David Mitchinson, Head of Collections and Exhibitions and Anita Feldman, Curator of the Henry Moore Foundation have been working alongside the team at Kew to create a blockbuster exhibition containing many of Moore’s timeless and best loved pieces, positioned thoughtfully in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

A selection of these works is touring to New York Botanical Garden, opening 24th May 2008 until 11 January 2009. Following on from this, the selection will then travel to Atlanta Botanicl Gardens from 9 May 2009 until mid November 2010.