Henry Moore at Kew
Henry Moore: Monumental Nature brings 30 monumental sculptures by Moore to Kew Gardens. Spread across the landscape, the bronzes are not simply objects placed against a beautiful backdrop. They interrupt, frame and reshape the views around them.
Moore drew repeatedly from the human figure, bones, stones and the contours of hills, but his sculptures do not reproduce these things literally. A curved mass may suggest a reclining figure, while an opening can reveal the landscape beyond or draw attention to the weight of the material surrounding it.
What I find most powerful is their presence. You don’t merely stand back and look; you move towards and around them, experiencing their scale both physically and visually. The models and drawings reveal how these immense works could develop from ideas first explored in something small enough to hold in the hand. They are a reminder that inspiration from nature need not be obvious - it can be carried through weight, curve, space and balance, as though the landscape itself has been given a body.