Reassessing Herbert Read

The impetus for this research season is the forthcoming launch of the University of Leeds’ digital exhibition on Herbert Read (1893-1968) and enhancements to its Herbert Read archive. The Henry Moore Foundation also has an enduring interest in  Read and his work; Read was a lifelong supporter of Moore and his sculpture and the two maintained a firm and lasting friendship.

Herbert Read was a First World War poet who was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. He was a literary critic who co-founded the influential journal Art and Letters and the Institute for Contemporary Arts, a novelist, publisher and editor. Read was also a passionate advocate for education through art and an internationally renowned art critic, largely responsible for the promotion of artists including Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.

The majority of Leeds’ Herbert Read Archive collection was acquired from Read’s family in 1998, following the 1997 acquisition of his Library, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Further accruals to the collection were made via Benedict and later Piers Paul Read, before the acquisition in 2018 of a group of Read’s letters and manuscripts which had formed part of Benedict Read’s estate. The 2018 purchase was supported by the Friends of National Libraries.