“We live in a transitional age between one structure in society which is in dissolution and another economic order which has not yet taken shape” 

Henry Moore, 1952

After World War II there was a sense that the end of hostilities would herald an exciting new era in which art would enjoy an enhanced social role. Already a celebrated war artist, Henry Moore understood the responsibility and importance of creating art for the people. In the immediate post-war years he adopted a classical style of modernism that made his work both relevant and comprehensible.

Moore’s reclining figures and family groups found a new prominence in contemporary art. Images of the mother and child and the traditional nuclear family represented security and community spirit. As towns and communities began to rebuild, art became both part of the healing process and a cause for celebration. By funding public commissions and new organisations such as the Arts Council, the government actively encouraged art as a tool to boost morale, educate and entertain. Moore’s sculptures became an important part of this re-birth of culture. 

Believing that art should be egalitarian, Moore was supportive of the push towards having sculpture in outdoor public spaces. In 1949, Family Group (fig 1.) was installed at Barclay School Stevenage - the first secondary school to be built post-war. For this project, Moore spent a great deal of time exploring the relationship between the family figures, which resulted in him producing some of his finest maquettes (fig. 2).

As sculpture adopted a new role in society, exhibitions also took on a new form. Funded by London County Council, the 1948 Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture in Battersea Park marked a new dawn for people to have “full access to see heritage and culture”. The show, in which Moore exhibited Three Standing Figures(1947) and Recumbent Figure (1939), was estimated to have thirty thousand visitors but in reality nearly two hundred thousand attended. 

The same year Moore was chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale. His sculptures were placed alongside the paintings of JMW Turner, a collaboration that represented British art at its finest in both past and present. The display was lauded on the international stage and Moore became seen as both a modernist and classicist. 

Moore’s international reputation continued to escalate with major exhibitions in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. The year before the Biennale, in 1946-7, he became the first British artist to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Moore viewed the exhibition as a real turning point, admitting that “I doubt that one would have won the International Sculpture prize.. without the.... impetus that The Museum of Modern Art retrospective provided ... Now ... a good three-quarters of my work is in America”. It was a resounding success with more visitors than the museum’s blockbuster Chagall exhibition the year previously. MoMA’s continuous support and display of Moore’s sculpture helped instigate the spread of biomorphic forms in popular American design, with his natural shapes appearing in everything from furniture to salt and pepper shakers.

While Moore had a great friend in Alfred Barr, the Director of MoMA between 1929-1943, he was not only supported by museums, becoming the ultimate British artist for collectors. With the value of modern art rising in the post-war years alongside the economy, Moore’s work became amongst the most sought after. Dealers were known to hold lists of collectors who would buy as soon as his works became available.

Nelson Rockefeller, once President of MoMA, Governor of New York and Vice-President of the USA, had an outstanding collection of Modern art including many important Henry Moores such as Knife Edge Two Piece (1962-65) (fig. 3) and a model for Memorial Figure at Dartington - Maquette for Reclining Figure (1945) (fig. 4).