Henry Moore Studios & Gardens in Hertfordshire is currently closed for winter, reopening in April 2025.

Henry Moore Institute in Leeds will be closed over Christmas from 23 to 26 December and 30 December to 1 January (library and archive closed from 23 December to 1 January).

See & Do

Joan Moore

The archive holds a significant collection of papers, drawings and photographs by Joan Moore (1909-1996), including many sketches of animals made during her visits to London Zoo, which were the basis for her characteristic metal sculptures.

Close-in black and white photo of a pair of hands working on a sculpture of three small, stylised, metal sculptures of chicken-like birds.

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A small, cartoonish steel sculpture of a moose or stag behind a wire fence, poking its nose through a gap.

An older woman wearing safety goggles welding together two pieces of metal.

Black and white photo of three men, two of them shirtless, labouring to manoeuvre a large, umbrella-shaped metal sculpture into position.

Black and white photo of a large, paved public space between multi-storey buildings. It has a water feature, in the middle of which stands an umbrella-like sculpture. Two more sculptures can be seen further back in the middle of the paved area.

About the artist

Joan Moore (1909-96) was raised in West Sussex and educated at the Slade School of Art, London from 1932. Having completed a Fine Art Diploma, Moore was invited back by the head of Sculpture, A.H. Gerrard, to study two terms of ‘Short Poses’. Gerrard was particularly influential on Moore in terms of her interest in Egyptian sculpture.

Moore met sculptor Kenneth Armitage in his first year at the Slade in 1937, and they shared a studio together in London. They married on 21 July 1940, though their relationship would prove to be a complicated one. They separated after the Second World War but never divorced, remaining close friends throughout their lives and keeping up a regular and frank correspondence.

Moore’s sculptural work was put on hold during the war. During this time she worked in factories making plastic pipes for aeroplanes. In the 1960’s Moore moved to a cottage in Highgate, adding a studio with a kiln so that she could pursue enamelling and use colour within her sculptures.

Moore’s most characteristic work was of animals, particularly birds, based on the life drawings she made during her visits to London Zoo. She created paper ‘toiles’ which she used as patterns for cutting steel, a skill derived from her training in tailoring and dressmaking.

What’s in the collection?

Moore’s drawings make up a significant part of her archive collection, some of which were made during her time at the Slade School of Art. These include life drawings, topographical pen and ink drawings of Italian scenes, and a large collection of drawings of animals, many of which were made from life and were the basis for her sculptures of animals.

Additionally, her collection includes a series of watercolours and pastels, largely of boats and scenes of bays. It also holds a set of hand printed Christmas cards and a card model of a bird, possibly used as a template for her metal sculptures.

The archive also contains exhibition catalogues, photographs, and notes from her art history lectures at Slade and her early training in tailoring.

The photographs include some personal images of Joan Moore and her family, but mainly document her work. They show her early carvings; Joan Moore at work; a public sculpture by Joan Moore; and her later steel sculptures of animals and people.