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Gagosian brings Henry Moore's bronzes in from the cold
Large Late Forms shows Moore's mega bronzes as you've never seen them before - indoors
What you need to know
The Gagosian Gallery and The Henry Moore Foundation have collaborated for this exhibition of Henry Moore's large-scale sculptures, some of which are being shown indoors for the first time.
The British sculptor's works draw on elements of the abstract, the surreal, the primitive, and the classical. He held his first solo sculpture exhibition in London in 1928 and by the late 1940s he had become one of Britain's most celebrated artists. Moore favoured large-scale works that viewers could touch and interact with.
Large Late Forms features nine large-scale bronze sculptures by Moore, created in the latter stages of his career, from the 1960s onwards, as well as a collection of smaller maquettes (models) created in the course of his work. Until 18 August.
What the critics like
The exhibition is truly revelatory, says Ben Luke in The Evening Standard. Many dismiss Moore's later works as dull, impersonal bronzes, but in this show they seem more intimate than ever before.
The Gagosian has removed some walls, opening up an already mammoth space bathed in natural light. "Under these conditions, Moore's works just sing." This "pitch-perfect" exhibition is your chance to think again.
In the 1960s, Moore might have seemed like a dinosaur, says Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph, but today his work is "starting to appear timeless". These sculptures orchestrate "a pleasing rhythm of protuberances and hollows" that swell and flow" with an almost erotic dynamic, making the perception that Moore settled into a safe, semi-pastoral mode, seem unfair.
The centrepiece, titled Large Two Forms, creates such intimacy and tension between its two parts, that to stand between them feels like trespass, says Tabish Khan on Londonist. "Just when you thought you'd seen all that Moore has to offer, the transportation of his larger works indoors provides a different perspective that pulls you back in".
What they don't like
The Henry Moore who emerges from Gagosian's perspective-changing show is sometimes classical and sometimes just old-fashioned, says Charles Derwent in The Independent. Often he is very good (Three Piece Sculpture) and occasionally rather bad (Reclining Connected Forms).
"The main thing, though, is that we see Moore at all" - that his work, so often walked past and sat upon, but rarely looked at, is here, "held right in front of our eyes". ·
