Press

The Henry Moore Foundation announced today that it has acquired an important 1943 Moore drawing at auction, Textile Design for ‘Fruit and Flowers’ (above left), thereby reuniting the original design with the only remaining piece of fabric created from it (above right).

The drawing will join the Moore collections at the Foundation’s headquarters at Perry Green, Hertfordshire, and will go on display alongside its fabric partner in the major exhibition Henry Moore Textiles, re-opening as part of the Visitor Season on 1 April 2009.

The ‘Fruit and Flowers’ drawing is a key acquisition as only a small piece of the resulting fabric remains – a sample just 24cm square. This sample was acquired by The Henry Moore Foundation in 1990 from textile manufacturer Zika Ascher, who worked with Moore throughout the 1940s on an important range of textiles.

Ascher commissioned several leading international artists to produce designs for silk squares intended to liven up the post-war wardrobe. Moore used bold, bright colours to create ideas for scarves, as well as for dress and upholstery fabrics. More than two dozen of his designs were eventually printed, sometimes in as many as twenty different colourways.

The revelatory exhibition Henry Moore Textiles, held in the Sheep Field Barn Gallery at Perry Green, brings together 100 of these fabrics, together with four large-scale textile wall panels designed in 1948. Also on display are twenty-six Moore textile drawings, and two sketchbooks of textile designs, one of which only came to light as recently as 2006. The vast majority of these works had never been on public display before this exhibition was initially launched at Perry Green in 2008. The exhibition can be seen at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh until 31 January 2009, before returning to Perry Green by popular demand for summer 2009.

Richard Calvocoressi, Director of The Henry Moore Foundation, said: ‘It is terrific that such an important drawing is returning to Perry Green, and that it can be shown as part of our exhibition Henry Moore Textiles. The textiles are an important part of Moore’s work, and we are delighted to bring them to a wider audience.’

The Visitor Season at Moore’s former home at Perry Green, including his restored house, studios, exhibition spaces and sculpture grounds, begins 1 April 2009. Advance booking required at www.henry-moore.org.

Press enquiries and images: Annabel Friedlein + 44 (0)1279 844108/07989 657677 or annabel@henry-moore.org.