Henry Spencer Moore (1898-1986)

Sculptor born in Castleford, Yorkshire, the son of a coal mining engineer. Moore served in the Civil Service Rifles in World War I and after studied at Leeds School of Art, 1919-21 and Royal College of Art and for a short time at Leon Underwood's Brook Green School. About this Moore began visiting the British Museum and became interested in non-European cultures. He began direct carving and helped to sustain this discipline instigated earlier by Jacob Epstein.In 1928 he held his first solo exhibition at the Warren Gallery, London and in 1930 Moore became a member of the Seven and Five Society. In 1933 he helped Paul Nash form the avant-garde group, Unit One and then lived in a Hampstead studio, next door to Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. He was a participant in the seminal 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and although he experimented with abstract and biomorphic art during the mid-1930's, his abiding concern was always with