Exhibitions

On 6 May 2011, Blitz and Blockade: Henry Moore at the Hermitage opened at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. The exhibition coincides with the 70th anniversary of the ending of the Blitz and the beginning of the Siege of Leningrad, and runs until 28 August.

The use of the Hermitage basements as shelters during the Siege adds an unusual poignancy to the display.  As well as five galleries of Moore drawings, one room is dedicated to the drawings of Soviet architect Alexander Nikolsky. They record images of people sheltering in the basement during the bombardment.

During the Blitz, Henry Moore made numerous sketches and a series of worked-up drawings of people sheltering from the German bombing in the London Underground.  As evocations of suffering and endurance, these have attained an almost mythic status in the artist's work, and were widely exhibited during and after World War Two.

The exhibition includes a wide range of Moore's compositions from both the First and Second Shelter Sketchbooks, interspersed with related enlarged drawings, and six sculptures.  Outside, three monumental works have been spectacularly sited in the main courtyard: Large Four Piece Reclining Figure 1972-73, Draped Reclining Mother and Baby 1983, and Reclining Figure: Hand 1979.

This exhibition has been curated by the Foundation's Head of Collections and Exhibitions, Anita Feldman, in close collaboration with The Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky.  Professor Piotrovsky visited The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green in Hertfordshire, to see Moore's collections and studios. The curators from the State Hermitage Museum are Dr. Sergey Androsov, the Head of the Western European Art Department and Alexei Mitin, Curator of Drawings. 

The exhibition is generously supported by the Hermitage Foundation UK and forms part of the Hermitage 20/21 project, an ambitious program aimed at showcasing the best of contemporary art in the Hermitage and expanding the display of 20th century art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published by Fontanka, London, 2011, in Russian and a companion edition in English, distributed by Thames and Hudson. The catalogue includes an introductory essay by Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, and a preface by The Henry Moore Foundation's Chair Duncan Robinson, as well as essays by Anita Feldman, Foundation Director Richard Calvocoressi, Dr. Sergei Androsov and Alexei Mitin.