Portal:Yorkshire/Selected biography/4

Sir Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA, (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist and sculptor. The son of a mining engineer, born in the Yorkshire town of Castleford, Moore became well known for his larger-scale abstract cast bronze and carved marble sculptures. Substantially supported by the British art establishment, Moore helped to introduce a particular form of modernism into the United Kingdom.

Moore is best known for his abstract monumental bronzes which can be seen in many places around the world as public works of art. The subjects are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically mother-and-child or reclining figures. Apart from a flirtation with family groups in the 1950s, the subject is nearly always a woman. Characteristically, Moore's figures are pierced, or contain hollow places. Many interpret the undulating form of his reclining figures as references to the landscape and hills of Yorkshire where Moore was born.

His ability to satisfy large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy towards the end of his life. However, he lived frugally and most of his wealth went to endow the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts. (read more . . . )