A few weeks ago I visited the Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green, Herts and had a fabulous day out. ;o) I really like Henry Moore's work but didn't know much about it or about him so I was looking forward to discovering more.
First, we visited Hoglands, the cottage at Perry Green where Moore and his wife, Irina, lived from the 1940s. It was fascinating to see their home and how they lived. They had a big collection of artwork which is set up in the house as it was when they lived there. There's lots of tribal art, a Rodin bronze, a Degas and a Picasso - in the kitchen, where we all have our Picasso pieces! LOL Outside the house there's two studios to visit (the Etching Studio and the Top Studio) which was fabulous, I love to see the artist's working environment.
After visiting the house, we set off to explore the grounds which are full of sculpture. ;o) I haven't seen any Moore sculpture up close and it was great to be able to get so close. The grounds are extensive and the sculptures are in fabulous settings.
One of my favourite parts of the visit was seeing the Bourne Maquette Studio. It is filled with maquettes for Moore's sculptures. It was fascinating to learn about the processes involved in how Moore developed his sculpture ideas.
All in all, I had a marvellous day and here are just a few of my favourites of all the photos I took!
Double Oval was one of my favourite pieces.
I took lots of shots of this one, it was excellent to be able to effectively get "in" the sculptures!
The surface textures on Moore's sculptures are really interesting. He used all manner of everyday objects to make marks with.
A view from Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae looking towards King and Queen and Locking Piece.
Mother and Child: Block Seat is in a lovely wooded setting.
Large Upright Internal/External Form was another of my favourites, I loved all the curves and took a multitude of different angles!
Another view, looking upwards.
Log pile in the wood, I just liked the order!
Foxglove in the Moore's garden, I love the contrast with the brick wall behind it.
A garden view.
Close up of Locking Piece.
View through the hedgerow towards Large Reclining Figure.
Sheep! Henry Moore and I have a love of sheep in common! This field is rented out to a local farmer with the proviso that sheep are grazed there. There are several sculptures in the field including Working Model for Sheep Piece (see next photo).
Working Model for Sheep Piece with sheep!
Part of Family Group.
Close up of Figure in a Shelter.
2 comments:
Great photos Maz. I'm not a big fan of sculpture generally but I always liked the Moore sculptures at Kenwood House in Hampstead. Used to love that you could touch them :) No idea if they're still there but I guess at least one or two are. Hope the ones you saw inspire your Muse :)
What a lovely experience! Saw the Moore sculptures at the Tate Modern once and was very annoyed that they decided they weren't allowed to be touched. Hrmph.
Lovely photos too!
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