Henry Moore Foundation

Henry Moore Foundation
Name	Henry Moore Foundation
Caption	Sculpture park at Perry Green
Established	1977
Founder	Henry Moore
Location	Perry Green, Hertfordshire
Type	Art foundation, conservation, research

Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a charitable organisation created to preserve the legacy of the sculptor Henry Moore and to promote sculpture, visual arts and art historical research. Founded to manage collections, conserve works, and support exhibitions, the organisation operates a sculpture centre, archives, and a sculpture park at Perry Green and maintains international loan relationships with museums, universities and galleries.

Early life and artistic career of Henry Moore

Born in Castleford, Yorkshire, Henry Moore trained at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art, developing an interest in human form that led to public commissions and recognition. Moore's early work showed influences from Alberto Giacometti, Jacob Epstein and the British modernist circle around the London Group and Unit One, while his wartime drawings of London Blitz scenes increased his public profile. Major commissions such as the Large Reclining Figure and public monuments for Trafalgar Square and the Senate House (University of London) established him alongside contemporaries like Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo. Moore's engagement with antiquity and non-Western art connected him to holdings in institutions such as the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.

Foundation establishment and mission

The foundation was established in 1977 by Moore under UK charity law to conserve his works, manage his estate, and support sculpture through grants, publications and exhibitions. Its statutory objectives align with arts charities that work with national bodies like the Arts Council England, partner museums such as the Tate, and academic institutions including the Courtauld Institute of Art. The foundation's mission emphasises provenance, conservation and scholarly access, collaborating with archives like the National Archives and research libraries such as the Bodelian Library and the British Library.

Collections and conservation

The foundation holds an extensive archive of Moore's maquettes, drawings, correspondence and plaster casts, housing collections comparable in scope to the holdings at the Tate Britain, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Art Institute of Chicago. Its conservation laboratories specialise in stone, bronze and plaster, employing techniques used by conservation departments at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute. The sculpture catalogue raisonnés maintained by the foundation support provenance research for dealers, auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's, and curators from museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art.

Gardens, estate, and visitor centres

The foundation's primary site at Perry Green encompasses gardens and a sculpture park on Moore's former estate, designed to present works in landscape settings akin to outdoor displays at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Storm King Art Center. Visitor facilities include exhibition galleries, conservation studios and educational spaces comparable to those at the Henry Art Gallery and the Hepworth Wakefield, with on-site interpretation that references Moore’s contemporaries like Ben Nicholson and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The estate’s approach to landscape and placement echoes practices used by institutions such as the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Fondation Maeght.

Research, education and outreach

The foundation supports scholarly research through fellowships, publications and cataloguing projects linked to academic partners including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Its education programmes liaise with schools and universities, mirroring outreach strategies used by the National Gallery, the British Museum and the Tate Modern, and it hosts lectures and symposia featuring curators from the Museum of Modern Art, conservators from the Getty Center and art historians from the V&A. Digital initiatives build on collections data exchange protocols used by the Europeana network and major digitisation projects at the Wellcome Collection.

Exhibitions, loans and partnerships

The foundation organises temporary exhibitions at Perry Green and collaborates on touring shows with institutions such as the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts. Its loan programme places works in museums worldwide, cooperating with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Stedelijk Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Partnerships extend to city councils and cultural festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and exchanges with university museums like the Ashmolean Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Governance and funding

Governance follows charitable trust structures overseen by a board of trustees, engaging external auditors and advisers drawn from the arts sector, higher education and the heritage field such as trustees who have served on boards of the Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Funding sources include investment income from the endowment, admissions and retail receipts, and grant-making relationships with institutions like the Paul Mellon Centre and philanthropic foundations such as the Wolfson Foundation. Financial stewardship mirrors best practice models used by organisations including the National Trust and the British Library.

Category:Art foundations Category:Sculpture museums and galleries in the United Kingdom