Henry Moore: Skulpture

This is a translation of a popular small monograph from the Little Encyclopedia of Art series (volume 71), originally published in 1965 by Methuen (London), in the format of a small pocket art book (Little Library of Art). The book has 11 pages of text plus 24 high-quality black-and-white reproductions.

The author John Russell, a well-known British art critic and art historian (later the author of a more extensive biography of Moore in 1968), writes an introductory text on Moore's life, style and significance: from early influences (primitive art, archaic sculpture, nature), through abstract forms, motifs of reclining figures, mother and child, family groups, to monumental public sculptures of the 1950s and 1960s.

The focus is on Moore's organic abstraction, play with space (the hole as an element of form), inspiration from landscape, costumes and natural forms. The book presents a selection of the most representative works with brief descriptions and reproductions (e.g. Reclining Figure, Family Group, Upright Motive). Ideal as an introduction to Moore's oeuvre from the 1960s, before his later major retrospectives.