Exhibition
A History of Sculpture in Leeds
Leeds Art Gallery, UK
Free Entry
![Installation view of 'A History of Sculpture in Leeds'](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Timeline-install-view.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Free Entry
A History of Sculpture
There is a rich history of sculpture in Leeds. This timeline charts the history of both Leeds Art Gallery, which opened in 1888, the achievements of Henry Moore and the development of the Henry Moore Institute.
The long-established partnership of Leeds City Council and the Henry Moore Foundation began with the development of the Sculpture Study Centre in Leeds Art Gallery in 1982 and the opening of the sculpture galleries, which Moore helped to design, and led to the development of the Henry Moore Institute in 1993.
It now represents an unparalleled collaboration in the collection, study and presentation of sculpture. The Leeds Sculpture Collections lie at the heart of our work together, and are underpinned by the complementary research and curatorial expertise of both organisations.
Early years: 1888 to the Second World War
1888 | October
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Leeds City Art Gallery opens to the public on 3 October. Designed by W.H. Thorp and funded by public subscription as part of…
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1888 | October
Leeds City Art Gallery opens to the public on 3 October.
Designed by W.H. Thorp and funded by public subscription as part of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. It costs £10,000 (equivalent to over £900,000 today).
For the opening ceremony a sculpture display filled the Tiled Hall, formerly a library reading room.
‘Leeds Mercury’, 3 October 1888. Image © The British Library Board’
The Tiled Hall, Leeds City Art Gallery.
1898 | July
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Henry Spencer Moore is born in Castleford on 30 July, Yorkshire, the seventh of eight children. 30 Roundhill Road. A narrow terrace…
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1898 | July
Henry Spencer Moore is born in Castleford on 30 July, Yorkshire, the seventh of eight children.
30 Roundhill Road. A narrow terrace cottage, two up two down (3rd front door from left) where Henry Moore was born. It was demolished in 1974. Photos: Henry Moore Archive.
1903
The Leeds Art Club is founded. A radically progressive organisation mixing socialist and anarchist politics with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, suffragette feminism,…
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1903
The Leeds Art Club is founded. A radically progressive organisation mixing socialist and anarchist politics with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, suffragette feminism, theosophical spiritualism and modernist art and poetry. It becomes one of the most advanced centres for modernist thinking in Britain in the pre-First World War period.
1903 | January
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Barbara Hepworth is born in Wakefield on 10 January, the eldest of four children. Barbara Hepworth as an infant with her parents,…
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1903 | January
Barbara Hepworth is born in Wakefield on 10 January, the eldest of four children.
![Black and white photo of a baby in a long white dress, surrounded by three women in dark, high-necked long dresses and a man wearing a suit.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Copy-of-Barbara-Hepworth-as-an-infant-with-her-parents-her-paternal-grandmother-and-her-paternal-great-grandmother-1903.-Courtesy-Bowness.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Barbara Hepworth as an infant with her parents, her paternal grandmother and her paternal great grandmother, 1903. © Bowness.
1912
The Leeds Art Collections Fund is established with an annual subscription of one guinea. Leeds Art Fund still exists to this day and…
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1912
The Leeds Art Collections Fund is established with an annual subscription of one guinea.
Leeds Art Fund still exists to this day and continues to buy art and place it on permanent loan to the city as well as supporting publications, conservation and educational activities.
So far they have acquired over 430 works by artists including Francis Bacon, Henry Moore and Andy Warhol.
1914-18
Leeds City Art Gallery closes during the First World War. The building is used to temporarily house over 300 Belgian refugees.
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1914-18
Leeds City Art Gallery closes during the First World War.
The building is used to temporarily house over 300 Belgian refugees.
1919
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Henry Moore starts studying at Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Arts University) helped by an ex-serviceman’s grant. His fellow students include Barbara…
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1919
Henry Moore starts studying at Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Arts University) helped by an ex-serviceman’s grant.
His fellow students include Barbara Hepworth and Raymond Coxon. Moore completes the two-year drawing course in a single year.
Above: Henry Moore (second row, centre), with fellow students Raymond Coxon, Horace Brooke, Geoffrey Kniveton, Connie Castle, George Stevenson, Doris White, Harry Taylor and Jack Elvin, taking the drawing exam at Leeds School of Art, June 1920. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
![A vintage black and white photo showing two young men in their early 20s. They are dressed in dapper 1920s suits, one is leaning on a cane and smoking a pipe, the other is sporty a natty bow tie.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2022/09/1921_HM.Coxon_Leeds-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Henry Moore and his friend Raymond Coxon in Leeds, c.1920. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
1921
Moore receives a scholarship to study sculpture at the Royal College of Art, where Barbara Hepworth is once again a fellow student.
1922
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Leeds War Memorial is erected on City Square (relocated to the South of Leeds City Art Gallery on the Headrow in 1937). The…
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1922
Leeds War Memorial is erected on City Square (relocated to the South of Leeds City Art Gallery on the Headrow in 1937). The memorial is dedicated to those fallen in World War I and was designed by Charles Henry Fehr.
Leeds City War Memorial in Victoria Square, outside the Henry Moore Institute. Photo: David Cotton.
1925
Leeds City Art Gallery builds an extension to house the collection of Leeds woollen manufacturer Sam Wilson in a purposebuilt series of rooms.…
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1925
Leeds City Art Gallery builds an extension to house the collection of Leeds woollen manufacturer Sam Wilson in a purposebuilt series of rooms.
The collection includes over 300 examples of 20th century British Impressionist paintings, sculpture, ceramics and furniture.
1936
Leeds City Council sets up an annual purchase grant fund to grow the collection with more contemporary work. Leeds City Art Gallery’s reputation…
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1936
Leeds City Council sets up an annual purchase grant fund to grow the collection with more contemporary work.
Leeds City Art Gallery’s reputation for perceptive collecting continues to grow. It has become one of the best collections of Modern British and contemporary art outside London.
Today there are now over a thousand sculptural works in the collection, by artists including Phyllida Barlow, Alexander Calder, Jacob Epstein, Antony Gormley, Barbara Hepworth, Hew Locke, Henry Moore, Alison Wilding and Bill Woodrow.
1939
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On the outbreak of the Second World War, the collections at Leeds City Art Gallery move to Temple Newsam House for safety. Meanwhile,…
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1939
On the outbreak of the Second World War, the collections at Leeds City Art Gallery move to Temple Newsam House for safety.
Meanwhile, Leeds City Art Gallery becomes a central resource for the preparation and distribution of war materials.
Moore’s carvings on display in Temple Newsam House, Leeds, 1941. Photo: C.R.H. Pickard & Son.
1940
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Moore and his wife Irina move to the hamlet of Perry Green in Hertfordshire after their own home in Hampstead, London is damaged…
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1940
Moore and his wife Irina move to the hamlet of Perry Green in Hertfordshire after their own home in Hampstead, London is damaged by bombing.
They temporarily rent the farmhouse Hoglands which becomes their home for the rest of their lives.
Henry Moore stands in the doorway at the rear of Hoglands, c.1940. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
1943
In 1943 the first retrospective exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s work is held at Temple Newsam House, Leeds, as part of a joint exhibition…
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1943
In 1943 the first retrospective exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s work is held at Temple Newsam House, Leeds, as part of a joint exhibition with the painter Paul Nash.
Hepworth has another solo exhibition at Wakefield City Art Gallery the following year, which tours to Bankfield Museum, Halifax.
Post-war: 1945-1979
1945
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Henry Moore is awarded an honorary degree by the University of Leeds. Henry Moore given honorary doctorate in literature at the University…
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1945
Henry Moore is awarded an honorary degree by the University of Leeds.
Henry Moore given honorary doctorate in literature at the University of Leeds, 1945. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
1947
Leeds City Art Gallery partially reopens with an exhibition marking the centenary of Leeds College of Art on display in remodelled and redecorated…
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1947
Leeds City Art Gallery partially reopens with an exhibition marking the centenary of Leeds College of Art on display in remodelled and redecorated upper rooms.
1947
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The first issue of Leeds Art Calendar, a quarterly magazine with articles and listings on visual arts across the region, is published. …
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1947
The first issue of Leeds Art Calendar, a quarterly magazine with articles and listings on visual arts across the region, is published.
![Cover of 'Leeds Art Calendar: A Quarterly Review'.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/1947-leeds-art-calendar.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
‘Leeds Art Calendar’ issue 1, Summer 1947.
1950
The University of Leeds introduces its innovative Gregory Fellowships artist-in-residence scheme. Fellows will include Edward Allington, Kenneth Armitage, Trevor Bell, Reg Butler, Hubert…
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1950
The University of Leeds introduces its innovative Gregory Fellowships artist-in-residence scheme.
Fellows will include Edward Allington, Kenneth Armitage, Trevor Bell, Reg Butler, Hubert Dalwood, Alan Davie, Terry Frost, Martin Froy and Austin Wright.
Fellowships continue into the 1980s and Leeds City Art Gallery acquires numerous works by Fellows for the collections.
1951
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Leeds City Art Gallery exhibits 15 Contemporary British Painters for the Festival of Britain, featuring works by Francis Bacon, Robert MacBryde, John Minton…
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1951
Leeds City Art Gallery exhibits 15 Contemporary British Painters for the Festival of Britain, featuring works by Francis Bacon, Robert MacBryde, John Minton and Ceri Richards.
Henry Moore in his garden with the plaster ‘Reclining Figure: Festival’ c.1951. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
1951
Moore is the subject of a BBC documentary, the first ever film devoted to a living artist, to coincide with his commission for…
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1951
Moore is the subject of a BBC documentary, the first ever film devoted to a living artist, to coincide with his commission for the Festival of Britain.
1951
Tate Gallery holds its first retrospective of Moore’s work.
1961
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Leeds City Art Gallery Picture Lending Library is established, allowing local people and businesses to borrow work from the collections to display in…
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1961
Leeds City Art Gallery Picture Lending Library is established, allowing local people and businesses to borrow work from the collections to display in their own homes and premises. It is still going strong!
Leeds Museums & Galleries Picture Lending Library. Photo: Joanne Crawford.
1977
Moore and his family establish the Henry Moore Foundation to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts. Moore and his wife Irina gift…
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1977
Moore and his family establish the Henry Moore Foundation to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts.
Moore and his wife Irina gift his work, along with their Hertfordshire estate, to the Henry Moore Foundation, enabling the Foundation to continue to promote Moore’s work through exhibitions and to offer grants for the support of sculptural commissions, acquisitions and research.
1977
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Yorkshire Sculpture Park opens in the 18th century parkland of Bretton Hall. Through its permanent collections, exhibitions, education programme and support of artists,…
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1977
Yorkshire Sculpture Park opens in the 18th century parkland of Bretton Hall.
Through its permanent collections, exhibitions, education programme and support of artists, YSP goes on to play a central role in British sculpture.
Installation view of the opening exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 1977. Reproduced by permission of Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
1979
Plans are announced for the Henry Moore Foundation to work with Leeds City Council to establish the Henry Moore Centre for the Study…
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1979
Plans are announced for the Henry Moore Foundation to work with Leeds City Council to establish the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture in Leeds City Art Gallery, its aim being to further the study and appreciation of fine arts, primarily sculpture.
1980s
1980 | April
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Moore lays the foundation stone for the new Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture at Leeds City Art Gallery. Henry…
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1980 | April
Moore lays the foundation stone for the new Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture at Leeds City Art Gallery.
Henry Moore laying the foundation stone of the Henry Moore Sculpture Gallery at the Leeds City Art Gallery, 10th April 1980. Photo: The Yorkshire Post Newspapers.
1982 | November
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The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture extension at Leeds City Art Gallery is opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The Centre…
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1982 | November
The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture extension at Leeds City Art Gallery is opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Centre fosters the development of the study of sculpture with a library, archive, sculpture acquisitions and exhibitions with funding provided by the Henry Moore Foundation.
The first exhibition is of early carvings by Henry Moore. Moore selects his sculpture Reclining Woman: Elbow 1981 to be sited outside the new entrance to the gallery, where it remains today, on long-term loan from the Henry Moore Foundation.
Leeds City Art Gallery with its completed extension, 1982.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Henry Moore at the opening of The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture on 26 November 1982. Photo: Henry Moore Archive.
1986
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Angels of Anarchy and Machines for Making Clouds: Surrealism in Britain in the Thirties at Leeds City Art Gallery is one of a…
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1986
Angels of Anarchy and Machines for Making Clouds: Surrealism in Britain in the Thirties at Leeds City Art Gallery is one of a number of nationwide exhibitions celebrating the 50th anniversary of the First International Surrealist Exhibition in London.
![Cover for the catalogue 'Surrealism in Britain in the Thirties', featuring a blue-skinned woman with butterflies covering her eyes and mouth.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Surrealism-in-Britain-in-the-Thirties.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
‘Surrealism in Britain in the Thirties’ exhibition catalogue.
1986 | August
Henry Moore dies on 31 August at his home in Hertfordshire, survived by his wife Irina, daughter Mary, and grandchildren.
1987
The New Art in Yorkshire open submission exhibition takes place across Leeds’ gallery spaces. Among the 260 artworks exhibited is a piece by…
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1987
The New Art in Yorkshire open submission exhibition takes place across Leeds’ gallery spaces.
Among the 260 artworks exhibited is a piece by the then-unknown young artist Damien Hirst.
1987
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Revelation for the Hands: Sculpture to Touch is organised by the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture and boldly encourages visitors…
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1987
Revelation for the Hands: Sculpture to Touch is organised by the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture and boldly encourages visitors to handle artworks by Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Gormley, Hepworth, Moore, Paolozzi and many more.
![White text on a blue background reading 'Revelation for the Hands'.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/1987_Revelation-for-the-Hands.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Private View card for ‘Revelation for the Hands: Sculpture to Touch’.
1987
The National Life Stories charitable trust and oral history project, based at the British Library, is set up. The Henry Moore Institute is…
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1987
The National Life Stories charitable trust and oral history project, based at the British Library, is set up. The Henry Moore Institute is a key partner in its Artists’ Lives initiative.
1988
Leeds City Art Gallery celebrates its centenary with a special exhibition 100 Years of Art in Britain. The exhibition featured one artwork for…
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1988
Leeds City Art Gallery celebrates its centenary with a special exhibition 100 Years of Art in Britain.
The exhibition featured one artwork for each year the gallery had been open, including the centenary year new acquisition, Susan Hiller’s Monument (1980-81).
1988
Holbeck Sculpture Exhibition shows Antony Gormley’s maquette for the infamously unrealised The Brick Man – a 12 storey high public sculpture intended for…
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1988
Holbeck Sculpture Exhibition shows Antony Gormley’s maquette for the infamously unrealised The Brick Man – a 12 storey high public sculpture intended for an empty plot near the train station which is sadly denied planning permission.
1988
The Henry Moore Foundation establishes the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, housed in the basement of Leeds City Art Gallery
1989
The exhibition Images of Women at Leeds City Art Gallery puts in motion an increased number of acquisitions of works by women artists…
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1989
The exhibition Images of Women at Leeds City Art Gallery puts in motion an increased number of acquisitions of works by women artists including pieces by Gillian Ayres and Paula Rego.
1989 | October
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The Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough, Halifax is opened by the Prince of Wales. At Dean Clough the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust…
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1989 | October
The Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough, Halifax is opened by the Prince of Wales.
At Dean Clough the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust work with contemporary artists. The first exhibition is Richard Long: High Tide to High Tide.
The Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough, Halifax.
1990s
1990
The British Art Show 3 tours to Leeds with works by Mona Hatoum, Julian Opie, Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread. The major survey…
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1990
The British Art Show 3 tours to Leeds with works by Mona Hatoum, Julian Opie, Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread.
The major survey exhibition showcases British contemporary art and is held in different locations around the UK every five years.
1990
The MA in Sculpture Studies is established at Leeds University, funded by the Henry Moore Foundation.
1992
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Building work begins on the Henry Moore Institute, a dedicated sculpture centre with new galleries, conference facilities, Research Library and Archive of Sculptors’…
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1992
Building work begins on the Henry Moore Institute, a dedicated sculpture centre with new galleries, conference facilities, Research Library and Archive of Sculptors’ Papers, next door to Leeds City Art Gallery.
The building is a conversion of three former Victorian wool merchants’ houses by the architects Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones, and is connected to Leeds Art Gallery via an overhead bridge link.
Construction work on Victoria Gardens and the newly built front entrance of the Henry Moore Institute, c. 1993. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
![Black and white photo of a building under construction, with steps leading up to a blank wall with scaffolding being set up. A Ferris Wheel can be seen in the background.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/HMI-under-construction-2.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Work of the front steps leading up to the Institute nearing completion, c. 1993. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
![Black and white photo of a building under construction. A wide, two-storey opening has been made in one wall, and is covered by plastic sheeting. Two workmen are laying bricks in the street below, possibly for foundations or for a basement level.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/HMI-under-construction-1.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Enclosing the courtyard of what would become Gallery 2, seen from Alaxander Street, with the doors yet to be put in place, c. 1993. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
1993 | April
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The Henry Moore Institute opens. The opening exhibition is Romanesque: Stone Sculpture from Medieval England, accompanied by an Ulrich Rückriem exhibition at Kirkstall…
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1993 | April
The Henry Moore Institute opens.
The opening exhibition is Romanesque: Stone Sculpture from Medieval England, accompanied by an Ulrich Rückriem exhibition at Kirkstall Abbey and Lawrence Weiner at the Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough.
![](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2023/03/Romanesque-install-2.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Installation view of ‘Romanesque: Stone Sculpture from Medieval England’. Photo: Richard Bryant.
1994
Alan Bennett curates Mr Bennett’s Pictures, a tour of Leeds City Art Gallery focusing on his favourite artworks and those that evoke memories…
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1994
Alan Bennett curates Mr Bennett’s Pictures, a tour of Leeds City Art Gallery focusing on his favourite artworks and those that evoke memories of growing up in the area.
1994
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The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture starts a research programme, with the introduction of Wednesday evening talks, study displays and…
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1994
The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture starts a research programme, with the introduction of Wednesday evening talks, study displays and the publication of a series of essays which still continues today.
![Cover of the book 'All in the Same Boat: Migratory Passages in Contemporary Sculpture (Essays on Sculpture issue 82)'.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/05/All-in-the-Same-Boat-Migratory-Passages-in-Contemporary-Sculpture-No.-82-square.png?fit=300%2C300)
Recent issues in the Henry Moore
Institute’s Essays on Sculpture series.
1995
The city’s art gallery and museums funded by Leeds City Council join forces as Leeds Museums & Galleries.
1995
The Henry Moore Institute’s research programme expands to include annual fellowships, events and international conferences.
1996
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The grounds at Henry Moore’s former home in Hertfordshire opens for the first time for tours and school groups. Children play hide…
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1996
The grounds at Henry Moore’s former home in Hertfordshire opens for the first time for tours and school groups.
Children play hide and seek around Henry Moore’s ‘Large Figure in a Shelter’ 1984. Photo: Min Young Lim.
1998 | May
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Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery participate in Artranspennine98. Jointly conceived by the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust and Tate Liverpool, this ambitious…
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1998 | May
Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery participate in Artranspennine98.
Jointly conceived by the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust and Tate Liverpool, this ambitious project commissions new work by 64 artists at 30 different sites across the Pennines, from Liverpool to Hull.
![](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2023/04/00149_06.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Langlands & Bell, ‘Eclipse’ 1998, wood, steel, lacquer. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
1998
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As part of his ongoing land art project 7000 Oaks, Joseph Beuys plants a tree outside the Henry Moore Institute alongside an upright…
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1998
As part of his ongoing land art project 7000 Oaks, Joseph Beuys plants a tree outside the Henry Moore Institute alongside an upright basalt stone. The oak tree continues to grow today.
![A green sapling with a small upright basalt stone stood next to it, in a paved square in front of a building with an imposing black granite facade.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Joseph-Beuys-7000-Oaks-outside-the-Henry-Moore-Institute.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Oak tree planted by Joseph Beuys outside the Henry Moore Institute, 1998, as part of his ongoing land art project ‘7000 Oaks’.
2000s
2001 | January
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Alison Wilding: Contract is the final exhibition held at the Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough. Installation view of ‘Alison Wilding: Contract’…
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2001 | January
Alison Wilding: Contract is the final exhibition held at the Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough.
Installation view of ‘Alison Wilding: Contract’ at the Henry Moore Studio in Dean Clough. Photo: Roderick Coyne.
2003 | September
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The Institute celebrates its tenth anniversary with the exhibition Other Criteria, an ambitious examination of 100 years of British sculpture. Installation view…
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2003 | September
The Institute celebrates its tenth anniversary with the exhibition Other Criteria, an ambitious examination of 100 years of British sculpture.
Installation view of ‘Other Criteria: Sculpture in 20th Century Britain’. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Sculpture in 20th-century Britain: Volume 1 and Volume 2 are published to coincide with the anniversary.
2005
Leeds City Art Gallery takes part in Situation Leeds, the city’s first festival of contemporary artists in the public realm.
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2005
Leeds City Art Gallery takes part in Situation Leeds, the city’s first festival of contemporary artists in the public realm.
2006
The Northern Art Prize is launched awarding an annual prize of £16,500 and exhibitions to shortlisted artists. There is no age limit, entrants…
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2006
The Northern Art Prize is launched awarding an annual prize of £16,500 and exhibitions to shortlisted artists. There is no age limit, entrants just have to be based in the north of the UK.
The prize runs until 2013 and winners include Leo Fitzmaurice, Karen Guthrie, Margaret Harrison, Haroon Mirza and Nina Pope.
2007 | September
Glasgow University, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Henry Moore Institute launch the Mapping Sculpture three year research project, funded by the…
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2007 | September
Glasgow University, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Henry Moore Institute launch the Mapping Sculpture three year research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
The outcome in 2010 is the extensive searchable online database: Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951.
2007 | October
A renovation at Leeds Art Gallery (previously known as Leeds City Art Gallery) opens the Victorian Tiled Hall to the public as a café.
2009
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851 is published for the Paul Mellon Centre and the Henry Moore Foundation by Yale University…
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2009
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851 is published for the Paul Mellon Centre and the Henry Moore Foundation by Yale University Press.
This is accompanied by an extensive online database launched in 2010.
2010s
2011 | February
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Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute join forces to stage an exhibition of Henry Moore’s work, which brings together over 100…
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2011 | February
Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute join forces to stage an exhibition of Henry Moore’s work, which brings together over 100 pre- and post-war
works in Leeds for the first time.
Installation view of ‘Henry Moore: Prints and Portfolios’. Photo: George Booth.
2011 | May
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The Hepworth Wakefield opens. The new building overlooking the River Calder is designed by David Chipperfield Architects. The gallery is named after Barbara…
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2011 | May
The Hepworth Wakefield opens. The new building overlooking the River Calder is designed by David Chipperfield Architects.
The gallery is named after Barbara Hepworth who was born and raised in Wakefield. The gallery presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and has dedicated galleries exploring Hepworth’s art and working process.
The Hepworth Wakefield. Photo: Iwan Baan.
2011 | June
Leeds Art Gallery hosts ARTIST ROOMS: Damien Hirst, an exhibition which charts the artist’s career from his student days at Leeds College of…
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2011 | June
Leeds Art Gallery hosts ARTIST ROOMS: Damien Hirst, an exhibition which charts the artist’s career from his student days at Leeds College of Art to becoming one of the world’s highest profile artists.
2013
Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle is formed, which sees the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park working in…
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2013
Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle is formed, which sees the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park working in partnership to promote Yorkshire as a key destination for world-class sculpture.
2014 | November
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The Event Sculpture takes over the outside of the Henry Moore Institute as a site for performance and temporary sculpture. Lara Favaretto,…
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2014 | November
The Event Sculpture takes over the outside of the Henry Moore Institute as a site for performance and temporary sculpture.
Lara Favaretto, ‘Doing’ 1998/2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Franco Noero, Turin. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Simon Martin, ‘Lemon 03 Generations (Turn it Around version)’ 2014. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Urs Fischer, Untitled 2014. Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
2017 | October
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A newly refurbished Leeds Art Gallery reopens with a representation of its world-class art collection spanning 130 years of the Gallery’s history. Also…
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2017 | October
A newly refurbished Leeds Art Gallery reopens with a representation of its world-class art collection spanning 130 years of the Gallery’s history.
Also on display is ARTIST ROOMS: Joseph Beuys exhibition, new acquisitions by Alison Wilding and Martine Syms and a commission by Lothar Götz.
![View looking up at the arched, glass ceiling of a white gallery space.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Leeds-City-Art-Gallerys-upper-gallery-following-refurbishment.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Leeds City Art Gallery’s upper gallery following refurbishment. Photo: DLA-Design.
2018 | March
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The Sculpture Collections opens, an exhibition celebrating the 36-year partnership between the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery, showcasing the best of…
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2018 | March
The Sculpture Collections opens, an exhibition celebrating the 36-year partnership between the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery, showcasing the best of Leeds Sculpture Collections across the exhibition spaces of both venues.
Installation view of ‘The Sculpture Collections’. Courtesy Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery). Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Installation view of ‘The Sculpture Collections’. Courtesy Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery). Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Installation view of ‘The Sculpture Collections’. Courtesy Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery). Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones.
2018
The Henry Moore Foundation joins forces with art philanthropist Cathy Wills and the Contemporary Art Society to form a purchasing scheme which acquires…
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2018
The Henry Moore Foundation joins forces with art philanthropist Cathy Wills and the Contemporary Art Society to form a purchasing scheme which acquires sculpture for Leeds’ and Wakefield’s collections.
The purchasing partnership continues today.
2019 | June
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Yorkshire Sculpture International takes place. This 100 day festival sees exhibitions at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and…
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2019 | June
Yorkshire Sculpture International takes place. This 100 day festival sees exhibitions at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and sculpture on display in both Wakefield and Leeds city centres.
![Sculpture of an oversized anatomical model of a male torso displaying the major organs and muscles.](https://images.henry-moore.org/uploads/2024/07/Damien-Hirst-Hymn-1999-2005.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
Damien Hirst, ‘Hymn’ 1999-2005. © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates.
Sean Lynch, ‘The Rise and Fall of Flint Jack’ 2019. Courtesy of the artist; Ronchini, London; and Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin.
2020s
2020
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The Covid–19 pandemic closes the galleries. Paloma Warga Weisz’s Bumpman on a Tree Trunk 2018 sits outside the Institute and Henry Moore’s Reclining…
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2020
The Covid–19 pandemic closes the galleries. Paloma Warga Weisz’s Bumpman on a Tree Trunk 2018 sits outside the Institute and Henry Moore’s Reclining Woman: Elbow 1981 remains outside Leeds Art Gallery.
Paloma Varga Weisz, ‘Bumpman on a Tree Trunk’ 2018, bronze. Photo: Stefan Hostettler.
2023 | January
LEEDS 2023, a year-long celebration of culture across the city, begins.
2023 | April
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The Henry Moore Institute celebrates its 30th anniversary. View of the Henry Moore Institute from Cookridge Street in 2023/1938. Vintage photo by…
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2023 | April
The Henry Moore Institute celebrates its 30th anniversary.
View of the Henry Moore Institute from Cookridge Street in 2023/1938. Vintage photo by kind permission of Leeds Libraries, leodis.net. Photo: Min Young Lim.
2023 | September
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The Henry Moore Institute is awarded the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s inaugural Exhibition Fund to support a three year research project in…
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2023 | September
The Henry Moore Institute is awarded the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s inaugural Exhibition Fund to support a three year research project in collaboration with University of the Arts, London and Shape Arts.
Beyond the Visual: Blindness and Expanded Sculpture explores engagements with contemporary sculpture using senses other than sight, challenging the dominance of vision in the making and appreciation of art.
Aaron McPeake, ‘Once I Saw it All’ 2022, bell bronze (casting of Snellen Chart).
2024 | July
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The Henry Moore Institute reopens following internal refurbishment with refreshed spaces and new education facilities. The Henry Moore Institute shop. Photo: Richard…
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2024 | July
The Henry Moore Institute reopens following internal refurbishment with refreshed spaces and new education facilities.
The Henry Moore Institute shop. Photo: Richard Chivers.
About the Mezzanine
This space was formerly used to show displays from the Leeds Sculpture Collection. However, as the Mezzanine is only accessible by stairs, we do not believe it is suitable to show art in any more.
Instead, we have used this space to create a timeline that details the history of the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery, and explains the special collaboration between the two organisations. All of the information shown in the gallery space is reproduced here.
Getting here
This exhibition is located in the Archive Gallery in Leeds Art Gallery, which is accessible by crossing the bridge link from the Henry Moore Institute. The Mezzanine is only accessible by stairs, with no lift access.
Leeds Art Gallery
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA
United Kingdom
T: 0113 378 5350
E: art.gallery@leeds.gov.uk