The Henry Moore Foundation

The Henry Moore Foundation
Name	The Henry Moore Foundation
Founder	Henry Moore
Founded	1977
Type	Charity; Art Foundation
Headquarters	Perry Green, Hertfordshire
Location	Perry Green; London
Key people	Nicholas Serota; William Feaver; David Hockney
Focus	Sculpture; Visual Arts; Conservation; Research; Education

The Henry Moore Foundation is a charitable institution established to promote the appreciation, care, study, and production of modern and contemporary sculpture associated with Henry Moore and related artists. The Foundation operates a network of sites and programs that encompass museum displays, conservation studios, archives, residences, and international loans. It connects Henry Moore’s practice to wider histories of twentieth-century and twenty-first-century art through exhibitions, publications, scholarships, and public art placements.

History

The Foundation was created in 1977 by sculptor Henry Moore and his family to manage the artist’s estate and to support sculpture. Its founding links include patrons and institutions such as the Arts Council of Great Britain, the National Trust, and trustees who connected Moore’s legacy to national collections like the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Early activities included transferring large works to municipal collections in cities such as New York City, Chicago, Berlin, and Melbourne. Over decades the Foundation engaged with curators and critics including Andrew Forge, John Rothenstein, and Kenneth Clark, aligning Moore’s oeuvre with contemporaries like Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Barbara Hepworth, and Constantin Brâncuși.

Mission and Governance

The Foundation’s mission emphasizes preservation, scholarship, and public access to sculpture. Governance is overseen by a board of trustees drawn from arts administrators, collectors, and academics with links to institutions such as the Courtauld Institute of Art, the British Museum, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Directors and chief executives have included figures connected to the British Council, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art. Strategic partnerships extend to municipal authorities like Hertfordshire County Council and international museums including the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Collections and Holdings

The Foundation’s holdings comprise an extensive archive of maquettes, plaster casts, drawings, prints, and correspondence, together with a sculpture park collection sited on Moore’s former estate. The archive documents exchanges with contemporaries and institutions such as Giacometti Studio, Picasso Estate, Leo Castelli Gallery, and corporate patrons like Chrysler Corporation. Important holdings include cast editions that have been lent to exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Prado Museum. The collections also preserve documentary material relating to patrons and collectors such as Ivar Kreuger, Peggy Guggenheim, and Alfred Barr.

Exhibitions and Programs

The Foundation curates temporary exhibitions and long-term displays that place Moore alongside artists, architects, and designers. Past exhibition collaborators and loan partners have included the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, the Serpentine Galleries, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Programs have explored intersections with figures like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Isamu Noguchi, Lynn Chadwick, and Anthony Caro. It organizes thematic shows, retrospective surveys, and catalogue raisonnés supported by scholars from the Warburg Institute, the Bodleian Libraries, and leading universities such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Courtauld Institute of Art.

Studios and Gardens

The Foundation maintains Moore’s former home and studios at Perry Green, Hertfordshire, preserving working spaces, plaster stores, and the surrounding sculpture gardens. The site exhibits outdoor works in landscaped settings reminiscent of commissions for public sites in cities like London, Leeds, Seville, and Helsinki. Conservation facilities within the studios perform treatment for bronze and stone, collaborating with conservation departments at the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Gardens and studios host sculptural dialogues with estates and parks such as Kew Gardens, Hestercombe Gardens, and international sculpture parks in Chicago and Oslo.

Research, Education, and Grants

Research programs support doctoral and postdoctoral projects in partnership with academic centers including the Institute of Historical Research and the Royal Holloway, University of London. The archive promotes scholarship on Moore’s correspondence with figures like Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, and collectors including Joseph Duveen. Educational outreach provides teacher resources, workshops, and fellowships that have links to galleries and museums such as the Tate Modern, the National Museum of Wales, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Grantmaking supports conservation, exhibitions, and acquisitions at institutions like the National Portrait Gallery, the Ashmolean Museum, and regional arts organizations.

Public Engagement and Legacy

Public engagement centers on loans, touring exhibitions, and outdoor sculptures in civic spaces, sustaining Moore’s presence in urban and cultural landscapes across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. The Foundation’s legacy is measured through collaborations with municipal authorities, academic institutions, and cultural organizations that maintain Moore-related sites and commissions, including major placements in New York City, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney. Its activities continue to influence curators, conservators, and sculptors who situate Moore within histories of modernism, public art policy, and heritage practice, ensuring ongoing dialogue with artists, critics, and institutions such as the British Library, the Getty Research Institute, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Category:Foundations