HENRY MOORE STUDIOS & GARDENS 2024 SEASON: SCULPTURE, INSPIRATION AND OUR NATURAL WORLD

Images courtesy of Henry Moore Studios

Reopening 28 March at Perry Green, Hertfordshire

Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, the home of 20th century sculptor Henry Moore, will reopen to the public on Thursday 28 March 2024 with an outdoor display featuring 23 of the artist’s iconic bronzes, six studios preserved as Moore would have used them, and tours of Moore’s family home, Hoglands. The 2024 season entitled ‘Sculpture, Inspiration and Our Natural World’ runs until Sunday 3 November and includes a programme of events inspired by the relationship between sculpture and nature.

Henry Moore Sheep Piece 1971-72
Photo: John Chase

Lambs with Large Reclining Figure 1984 and Sheep Piece 1971-72.
Photo: Henry Moore Foundation

Nature was always at the centre of Moore’s work. In 1951, he famously declared: “Sculpture is an art of the open air. Daylight, sunlight, is necessary to it, and for me its best setting and complement is nature. I would rather have a piece of my sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in, or on, the most beautiful building I know.”

Henry Moore,Large Reclining Figure 1984.
Photo: Rob Hill

Presented by Melandas Indonesia

In the hamlet of Perry Green, Hertfordshire, Moore was able to explore the relationship between nature, landscape and the human form. The open countryside allowed him the freedom to create outdoors sparking an enduring dialogue between his work and nature. Visitors in 2024 will be able to trace this relationship through a selection of sculptures displayed in the landscape he shaped. These works highlight Moore’s common themes – the reclining figure, the mother and child and the contrast between internal and external forms – and are joined by some of his purest organic abstractions that reveal the journey from handheld pebble to monumental work.

Henry Moore, Large Reclining Figure 1984.
Photo: Rob Hill

Henry Moore, Large Reclining Figure 1984.
Photo: Henry Moore Foundation

Henry Moore with Sheep Piece 1971-72 in April 1977
Photo: Henry Moore Archive

This season’s events programme draws inspiration from the natural world with creative workshops, artist talks, film screenings, and open archive sessions.

Maquettes on the shelves of Henry Moore’s Bourne Maquette Studio.
Photo: Jonty Wilde

Detail of the Bourne Maquette Studio.
Photo: Jonty Wilde

Studios & home
Visitors to Henry Moore Studios & Gardens can explore the six onsite studios where Moore brought his vision to life. These authentically preserved spaces where countless masterpieces were conceived now feature curated displays of the tools of Moore’s trade, the sketches that laid the foundations for his sculptures, and insights into his artistic practice.

Henry Moore in his maquette studio, 1968.
Photo: John Hedgecoe

Henry Moore working in the maquette studio, c.1968
Photo: Henry Moore Archive

Lining the walls of Moore’s Bourne Maquette Studio are shelves crammed full of animal bones, flints found in the local fields, seashells, pebbles, and gnarled bits of driftwood, all intermingled with ideas for sculpture at various stages of completion.

Henry Moore, The Arch 1963-69
Photo: John Chase

Henry Moore, Double Oval 1966
Photo: John Chase

In 1934, Henry Moore said: “The observation of nature is part of an artist’s life, it enlarges his form-knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration… There is, in Nature a limitless variety of shapes and rhythms (and the telescope and microscope have enlarged the field) from which the sculptor can enlarge his form-knowledge experience.’’

Henry Moore, Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae 1968-69
Photo: Rob Hill

Henry Moore Studios & Gardens Activity Sketchbook
Photo: Rob Hill

Visitors can also book onto an intimate tour of Moore’s family home, Hoglands. The house was the centre of his life and work, visited by dozens of well-known artists, curators and collectors, as well as many royals, film stars and politicians. It is filled with an extraordinary collection of both artworks and natural objects that inspired him.

Henry Moore, Large Figure in a Shelter 1985-86
Photo: Min Young Lim

Henry Moore, The Arch 1963-69
Photo: Min Young Lim

Family events
Families can enjoy a free Activity Sketchbook created in collaboration with illustrator and designer Lizzie Lomax. Using the view finder to explore the Moore works and seventy acres of countryside, visitors are encouraged to find some flint along the way and send a pull-out postcard to a friend. Offering an interactive trip around the site, the Sketchbook shares information about Henry Moore’s art and life and encourages visitors to develop their own ideas with prompts to write, draw, make, move and imagine.

Many events in the 2024 programme are included in an annual ticket to the Studios & Gardens, allowing visitors to return as often as they wish to explore new elements and ideas.

Online booking at henry-moore-foundation.arttickets.org.uk