Drawings from the Shelter

During the Second World War, Henry Moore (1898-1986) was already known in Britain as a sculptor. From 1940 he received commissions as a war draughtsman. At that time, he mainly sketched the experiences of London's civilian population in shelters. He also documented the working lives of miners, as Moore's father was one. Some works remained sketches, others the exceptional British artist subsequently elaborated into drawings. The St Albans Museum + Gallery, located only 35 km north of London, is showing more than 100 exhibits in Henry Moore: Drawing in the Dark. The show is open from 16 December to 16 April.

The drawings contributed significantly to Moore's international fame, especially in the USA, whereupon his sculptural work was discovered. In the following decades, the Briton received numerous commissions for large-scale, public sculptures, mostly featuring semi-astract figures at rest. He received the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1948 and participated in documenta I, II, III and 6. To this day, Moore is considered one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century.