Henry Moore is perhaps the best-known sculptor of the twentieth century. His creative energy was boundless, and he worked across mediums from drawing and printing to bronze casting. Carving, however, was his first passion and it remained central to his practice throughout his career.

The Henry Moore Foundation owns the largest collection of Moore carvings in the world. This exhibition brings together major works from our collection, produced over six decades. The works trace Moore’s development as a carver and reveal his influences at different moments in his career. This story is brought to life through never-before-seen film and photographs from the Henry Moore Archive.

Henry Moore was born in 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire. As a child, he was fascinated with stone in sculpture, architecture and landscape. His artistic interests were nurtured from a young age and he announced his intention to become a sculptor at eleven. In 1921, Moore moved to London where an interest in non-Western and prehistoric sculpture drew him to the notions of ‘direct carving’ and ‘truth to material’ being championed by the great pioneers of modern sculpture.

Until the mid-1930s, Moore strictly adhered to these principles, working directly with materials and allowing their natural properties to shape his work. He rejected materials associated with classical sculpture and instead explored and experimented in materials ranging from indigenous stones to exotic woods. Inspiration came from diverse sources including the natural world and contemporary movements in modern art.

After the Second World War Moore softened his position to reflect his new belief that it was the idea, rather than the technique, that really mattered in art. Bronze casting became his primary method of creation, but carving remained an important part of his practice. From the early 1960s he spent his summers working at the famous Carrara quarries in Tuscany where one of his favourite artists, Michelangelo, had sourced his marble.