Henry Moore at Kew Gardens

I was quite blown away by the Henry Moore exhibition at Kew Gardens. As it said on the website, it’s monumental sculpture in a world heritage setting. It was a beautiful spring day, with carpets of bulbs and we got there early so had the place to ourselves.

Henry Moore is known for his organic shapes in bronze and marble, often abstractions of the human form. His work was often inspired by the shapes of bone and stone flints that he found near his home and I particularly love his female figures and those that represent mother and child.

I’d like to tell you that I took time to enjoy and photograph all 28 sculptures that were dotted around the botanic gardens, and chose the best for you. The truth is that my camera battery ran out and we’d already spent time looking at other things, so I couldn’t really do it justice.

The Kew Gardens website had photos, information and an interesting audio discussion on each of the 28 pieces of sculpture. Such is the benefit of the internet age that you too can enjoy these treats from afar.

There were two things that I particularly loved about the exhibition. One is that each piece had been so thoughtfully positioned within the gardens to enhance both sculpture and landscape so that I could barely imagine what it will be like once the sculpture is not there.

The second was how incredibly tactile the sculptures were – one could not resist running a hand over the sinuous forms and many had a smooth, bark like texture that was very satisfying.

I’m so sorry Henry Moore, that I didn’t find this exhibition earlier, but I’ll certainly be taking some time over my Easter break to discover more of the photos and on the website of the pieces that I missed.

Update: the exhibition has now finished but you can find information about current exhibitions on the Kew Gardens Website.

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This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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