Henry Moore Foundation announces new partnership with Yale Center for British Art and Yale School of Art
Cristóbal Gracia to be inaugural Artist in Residence
“I am very excited to have been invited as Artist in Residence. Being born and raised in Mexico City, one of my most immediate interests in Moore’s work is his relationship to Mexico, especially to the pre-Columbian cultures and also to Mexican modern art.
“The Henry Moore Foundation is an amazing space that can provide tremendous inspiration and information to artists. I had the opportunity to visit the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds a couple of times in 2017. I look forward to coming back to the Institute and the Foundation for a longer time to explore its collection and history.”
Cristóbal Gracia, after accepting the position
The Henry Moore Foundation is delighted to announce a new partnership with the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) and the Yale School of Art, established to enable collaborative research opportunities between these prestigious institutions. The collaboration will see the development of an Artist in Residence programme aimed at a current MFA student or recent MFA graduate of the Yale School of Art with an interest in the life and work of Henry Moore, starting this year with Cristóbal Gracia.
Gracia, a sculptor, will begin his residency in June 2022. Over the course of a month, he will live and work at the Henry Moore Studios & Gardens in Hertfordshire, benefitting from the close proximity to the Foundation’s collections, research facilities and expert staff. He will also be spending time at the Foundation’s Henry Moore Institute in Leeds where he will have access to its research library for the study of sculpture. During the residency Gracia will be offered the opportunity to generate fresh insights and knowledge about Moore as well as the study of British modernism, and sculpture in particular.
The residency is predominantly based at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, with the opportunity to spend one week at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, exploring the Foundation’s extensive resources, with a particular focus on the Henry Moore collections and archive at the Studios & Gardens. Located at the artist’s former home, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens holds one of the world’s largest collections of archives and artworks by a single artist. With a wealth of staff expertise to offer within the Collections & Programmes Department, it offers an unrivalled resource for the understanding and appreciation of every aspect of Moore’s practice and legacy.
“Since the Foundation’s inception, supporting artists and the appreciation of sculpture has been at the heart of our vision. I am delighted we have established a collaboration with the Yale Center for British Art and Yale School of Art and I am looking forward to welcoming Cristóbal.”
Sebastiano Barassi, Head of Henry Moore Collections & Programmes at the Henry Moore Foundation
Notes to Editors
About the artist
Cristóbal Gracia (b. 1987) reshapes historical milestones and social and cultural phenomena through the investigation, connection, and reconstruction of official chronicles, microhistories, and urban myths. Using tools such as humor, fiction, violence, desire, and failure, his work challenges the ideological and power systems that govern and have constructed Western contemporary civilization.
His work has been shown in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, England, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United States, in venues including Museo Universitario del Chopo, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Museo Tamayo, Casa del Lago, Human Resources, The BOX gallery L.A, the Biennial of the Americas, Palais de Tokyo, Blain | Southern, the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, La Ene, the M100 Matucana, and Clark House Initiative. Gracia earned an MFA in sculpture from the Yale School of Art in 2022.
About the Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation was founded by the artist and his family in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts.
Today we support innovative sculpture projects, devise an imaginative programme of exhibitions and research worldwide, and preserve the legacy of Moore himself: one of the great sculptors of the 20th century, who did so much to bring the art form to a wider audience.
We run two venues, in Leeds and Hertfordshire, showing a mix of Moore’s own work and other sculpture.
We also fund a variety of sculpture projects through our Henry Moore Grants and Research programmes and we have a world-class collection of artworks which regularly tour both nationally and internationally.
A registered charity, we award grants to arts organisations around the world, with a mission to bring great sculpture to as many people as possible.
About the Yale Center for British Art
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom, encompassing works in a range of media from the fifteenth century to the present.
The museum offers a vibrant program of events and exhibitions year-round in person and online. Opened to the public in 1977, the Yale Center for British Arts’core collection and landmark building—designed by architect Louis I. Kahn—were a gift to Yale University from the collector and philanthropist Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class of 1929).