An internationally celebrated sculptor

Italy and Henraux

In 1956, Moore was commissioned to produce a Reclining Figure for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He decided to use Roman travertine marble for his sculpture, a stone that had been used in the new UNESCO building.

The stone was supplied by Henraux, owners of the Monte Altissimo marble quarries at Querceta, near Carrara in Tuscany. As the cost of shipping the marble blocks to England would have been too high, Moore made the sculpture in Italy, working at Querceta for three or four weeks at a time for nearly a year.

The success of the commission prompted a new working relationship with Henraux and a resurgence in Moore’s stone carvings. Stone – in sculpture, architecture and the landscape – had long been a fascination for Moore.

In his early career, Moore often had to settle for whatever stone was available, occasionally acquiring offcuts of marble or alabaster from stonemasons and salvage yards. Growing financial success, however, enabled him more choice over materials.

The quality of materials and the technical support he found at Querceta, with access to assistants, cranes and tools, meant Moore had all he needed to create monumental carved works. He was also fascinated and excited by Monte Altissimo, known as a place where Michelangelo sourced marble.

After the completion of the UNESCO sculpture, Moore returned regularly to Italy. In 1965 he bought a house near the quarries in Forte dei Marmi, and for many years spent at least two months every summer combining work and holidays in Tuscany.

Tapestries

Moore’s interest in working across media and in different scales also saw a number of his drawings adapted into tapestries.

He collaborated with tapestry studios on numerous occasions, including Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh (1950) and Brose Patrick Studios (1971-74). In 1976 he began working with West Dean Tapestry Studio in West Sussex to create a series of eight tapestries, which were exhibited in 1980 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

In 1980, Moore purchased a beautiful sixteenth-century barn which he had carefully reconstructed near his studios. He commissioned West Dean to make ten more tapestries based on his drawings, to hang in the timbered bays of what became known as the Aisled Barn.

Moore believed that these tapestries should not be exact replicas of his drawings, but should act as a translation from one medium to another. He worked closely with highly skilled weavers to translate his original drawings into textiles, tasking them to capture the colour and tonality of his works.

Each tapestry took several months to complete, as the weavers dyed wool to achieve the different effects of Moore’s drawing media. Several of the tapestries can still be seen hanging in the Aisled Barn.