The Henry MOORE, Auguste RODIN Exhibition at the Henry Moore Foundation, Perry Green, Herts.
I recently saw the MOORE RODIN exhibition at The Henry Moore Foundation in Hertfordshire, wandering the grounds as well as the house, and saw some amazing work in my first sculpture exhibition.
Anita Feldman, the curator of this exhibition, says in her introduction in the exhibition catalogue, that
“this exhibition focuses exclusively on their work in juxtaposition, creating a dialogue uniting these two pivotal modern sculptors of the human form.”
MOORE was highly influenced by RODIN’S work and indeed there are numerous comparison’s throughout MOORE’s career.
For instance, obvious comparisons could be RODIN’S The Cathedral 1908 bronze (left image) MOORE’S Mother and Child: Hands 1980 bronze (right image).
Both sculptors were fascinated by hands, their symbolism, grace and ability to show expression with the tiniest of nuances and both sculptures went on to explore this theme time and again.
Another example could be MOORE’S Large Upright Internal/External Form in Spring in comparison to RODIN’S The Young Mother (as below)
MOORE’S Recline Figure: Angles
RODIN’S The Fallen Caryatid with Stone is
I must mention Hoglands too, the Elizabethan farmhouse and home of Henry & his wife Irina, herself an artist, for nearly fifty years. They were both avid collectors of paintings including works by Courbet, Villier, Degas and Renoir, antiques and artefacts combined perfectly with African & pre-Columbian sculpture and their home portrays their individuality and similarities perfectly. The reconstruction of the rooms has been excellently done by the Foundation and I could so easily imagine Henry walking in to the room behind us, perfectly at home and enjoying the company. The rooms still smelt of wood and cigarette smoke, I could almost see ash still in the ashtrays.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/3434 accessed 24/10/2013
OCA Painting 1 Learning Log 