Henry Moore Works in Public
This is a guide to Moore's sculptures on public display throughout the world. We strive to ensure that all information is accurate, however we recommend that you contact each venue before making a visit. Please also contact us if you spot any mistakes. In some instances it has not been possible to source an image of the actual sculpture in-situ, and on such occasions an alternative image has been used.
Moline
Deere & Company World Headquarters
bronze
length 550cm
The open spatial relationships between the component parts of this sculpture were a new development in Moore’s work. Not since Reclining Figure: Festival 1951, made for the Festival of Britain, had Moore produced a sculpture in which the tension between solid mass and open void was so exactly balanced (see working model cat.19). As so often in Moore’s work the piece is open to many interpretations. A strong internal-external relationship, with the arching forms shielding the ball, connects the work to the internal-external forms of the early 1950s. The ball shape with its single protective arch is reminiscent of the carved wood Two Forms 1934 now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, a fundamental mother and child image even if its sculptural forms are perceived as abstract. Two linked arches provide a counterbalance that can be read as a male figure, making a new interpretation of a family group for the work as a whole. Since many of Moore’s outdoor sculptures are figurative reclining figures they need pedestals to bring them to the eye-level of the spectator. Not so Hill Arches, which Moore conceived for the top of a low hill but usually sited on grass, or in water, where its reflection produced an effect he particularly liked.