Henry Moore: Sculpting the 20th Century

by Dorothy M. Kosinski (Editor)

Henry Moore (1898-1986) is arguably one of the most famous and beloved sculptors of the twentieth century, yet in recent decades his work has fallen out of favor in the world of contemporary art criticism. This handsome book examines this intriguing contradiction and seeks to reassess Moore's crucial contribution to art of the last century.Looking at Moore's early engagements with primitivism, his 1930s dialogue with abstraction and surrealism, and his postwar interest in large-scale public sculpture, the authors show how the sculptor helped to define some of the most significant aspects of modernism. The authors also contextualize within the polemics of early modernism Moore's emphasis on direct carving instead of modeling and the necessary balance between abstraction and what he called the "psychological human element". Moore's early sculpture -- largely unfamiliar to the general public -- is given particular attention, enabling the reader to explore the evolution of thematic and formal elements in his work and his ongoing response to different materials. Photographs, some by Moore himself, of over 120 works, including plasters, maquettes, carvings, bronzes, and drawings, are featured, many of which are previously unpublished.

Genres: Art, Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[CD · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gift from a friend who knows of my interest in Moore's sculpture, both those public and overly well known and also some that I have inadvertently run across that are privately held.

I'm wanting to take time with Kosinski's Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg (Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art) for comparison. This was written as a show catalog, but comes across as an equally effective art history/commentary on Moore.