Henry Moore and Greece

Opening at Gagosian’s Athens gallery on 12 September, Henry Moore and Greece is the first exhibition of Moore’s work in Greece for twenty years.

Featuring a selection of work spanning Moore’s career, the exhibition illuminates his fascination with ancient Greek art, which he developed during a trip to Greece in a few months before his first retrospective at the Tate, London.

In his early stone and wood carvings, Moore had turned away from classical tradition, deriving inspiration mostly from non-European cultures – for example, African and Mesoamerican art. It was not until the early 1950s, and especially following his 1951 visit to Greece, that his attention became increasingly drawn to Greek art.

Henry Moore and Greece explores links between Moore’s practice and earlier, antique Greek art, such as Cycladic sculpture. The artist made his one and only visit to mainland Greece in 1951 for an exhibition at the Zappeion Hall in Athens, also travelling to the archaeological sites of Delphi, Olympia, and Mycenae. He did not exhibit again in Athens until 1965.