Exhibitions

This major exhibition of prints, etchings and drawings explores the stories behind Moore's graphic work in lavish detail and reveals his connections to literature. It will be the first time that many pieces of the Castleford-born artist's work will be displayed in Yorkshire, and provides a new insight into the genesis of Henry Moore's ideas.

Moore's interest in printmaking began after the First World War and continued until the end of his life. It formed an increasingly important part of Moore's work from the 1970s, when he worked with specialist printers and publishers internationally to meet a growing demand for his work. These exquisite and highly collectable editions, the focus of this exhibition, form an important part of The Henry Moore Foundation's collection of works on paper by the artist. 

Many of the etchings and lithographs in these deluxe publications were conceived to accompany the work of selected poets - W H Auden, Stephen Spender, Charles Baudelaire and Lawrence Durrell, for example - or to illustrate the work of writers such as Shakespeare, Dante, and André Gide. 

Others were assembled as part of group tributes to artists including Picasso, Max Ernst, Joan Miró and Mark Rothko. In some cases, the books are dedicated to exploring subjects that had preoccupied the artist as a special interest, such as Elephant Skull, Stonehenge, The Artist's Hand, Mother and Child, and Trees.

Curated by the former Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Perry Green, David Mitchinson, and the new Head of Sculpture Studies at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, Lisa Le Feuvre - Henry Moore: Prints and Portfolios will complement an important retrospective of Henry Moore's work (in partnership with Tate Britain) at Leeds Art Gallery in March 2011.

There will also be a series of talks in the spring by contemporary artists with an interest in Moore's work, including Simon Starling, Bruce McLean, Paul McDevitt and Phyllida Barlow.

Additional Information:

David Mitchinson is former Head of Collections and Exhibitions at The Henry Moore Foundation and worked alongside Moore on his graphics from the late 1960s until the artist's death in 1986. His background in design and printing enabled him to participate in all aspects of the artists' printmaking activity, providing a wealth of historical and personal information for the Prints and Portfolios exhibition. 

David has recently retired after 42 years working at Perry Green. Prints and Portfolios is his final show.

The project is accompanied by an important book by Mitchinson, Henry Moore: Prints and Portfolios (Patrick Cramer, Geneva) charting the rich and varied histories of the deluxe books, prints and portfolios created by the artist in collaboration with other artists, writers, typographers, printers and publishers from 1931 onwards.

Also in the book are little-known one-off graphic projects by the artist - a wine label for the 1964 Mouton Rothschild vintage, for example, Moore's personal book plate design, and a print conceived for a bold scheme to introduce modern art to schools.  The book will also appear in a deluxe edition of 60, each containing an issue of Moore's first etching, Composition for a Poem by Herbert Read (c.1946) and his last lithograph, Two Women Seated on a Beach (1984).