Henry Moore Quotes about Art

Henry Moore was a famous English sculptor and draftsman associated very loosely with abstraction and surrealism. He is best known for his monumental sculptures of the abstracted human form. Famous Henry Moore artworks include “Large Two Forms”, “Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 5”, “Large Reclining Figure”, “Family Group”, “King and Queen”, “Nuclear Energy”, “Recumbent Figure”, “Knife Edge”, “Large Torso: Arch”, and “Goslar Warrior”.

Mini biography: Born Henry Spencer Moore on the 30th of July, 1898 in Castleford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His mother was Mary Baker and his father Raymond Spencer Moore was a mine worker. Moore married Irina Radetsky in 1929 and they had one child: Mary Moore. The artist died on the 31st of August, 1986 in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, England at the age of 88.

Collection of Famous Henry Moore Art Quotes

To be an artist is to believe in life. Henry Moore

I’ve always loved drawings.. when you draw you look much more intensely at something. Henry Moore

There’s no retirement for an artist, it’s your way of living so there’s no end to it. Henry Moore

The first hole made through a piece of stone is a revelation. The hole connects one side to the other, making it immediately more three-dimensional. A hole can itself have as much shape-meaning as a solid mass. Sculpture in air is possible, where the stone contains only the hole, which is the intended and considered form. The mystery of the hole – the mysterious fascination of caves in hill sides and cliffs. Henry Moore

There are universal shapes to which everyone is subconsciously conditioned and to which they can respond if their conscious control does not shut them off. Henry Moore

All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she looks but they don’t really, you know. Henry Moore

The violent quarrel between the abstractionists and the surrealists seems to me quite unnecessary. All good art has contained both abstract and surrealist elements, just as it has contained both classical and romantic elements – order and surprise, intellect and imagination, conscious and unconscious. Both sides of the artist’s personality must play their part. And I think the first inception of a painting or a sculpture may begin from either end. Henry Moore

I prefer Mexican to Mayan sculpture. Mexican stone sculptures have largeness of scale and a grim, sublime, austerity, a real stoniness. They were the true sculptors in sympathy with their material and their sculpture has some of the character of mountains, of boulders, rocks and sea worn pebbles. Henry Moore

The work of art with what might be called prophetic vision is doing more for art than the public authority that plays for safety and gives the public what the public does not object to. Henry Moore

The distinguishing quality of most primitive art is the intense vitality which it possesses, because it has been made by a people in close touch with life, who felt simply and strongly, and whose art was a means of expressing vitally important beliefs, hopes and fears. Negro sculpture is essentially religious and cannot be detached from the tribal gods, priests and ancient rituals. When civilization destroyed these things, it also destroyed their Art. Henry Moore

Henry Moore Sculpture

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Related or similar popular artists include: Barbara Hepworth || Isamu Noguchi || Michelangelo || Brancusi || Jean Arp, and other Famous English Sculptors.