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Henry Moore was born in Castleford, Yorkshire, a small coal-mining town near Leeds in northern England. The seventh child of Spencer Moore, a self-educated socialist, trade unionist and coal miner, and his wife, Mary Baker.
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Winning a scholarship, Moore attended Castleford Grammar School, where he gained encouragement and inspiration from his art instructor, Alice Gosford, to pursue his ambition in sculpting.
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Moore, while wishing to pursue an art career, listened to his father's encouragement to work as a school teacher. He practised teaching for several months, but was unable to train further due to World War I.
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Joining the British Army near the end of the war, Moore was deployed to France, but suffered health complications from gas shells used in an intensive bombardment at the Battle of Cambrai. After his collapse, he was sent back to England and given medical treatment. He then returned to France a year later and fulfilled the rest of his military service as a fitness instructor.
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Moore received an ex-serviceman's rehabilitation grant and began studying at the Leeds School of Art. He decided to major in sculpture.
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Establishing himself as a sculptor, Moore studied historical and contemporary works and went on to become a leading avant-garde sculptor in Europe.
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Moore received a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.
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Moore married Irina Radetzky and began teaching at Chelsea School of Art.
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Commissioned by Russian émigré architect Serge Chermayeff in 1938 for the grounds of Bentley Wood, his house in Halland, Sussex, Recumbent Figure was created by Moore. -
During World War II, Moore produced his famous Shelter Drawings depicting Londoners sheltering in the Underground during the Blitz.
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Deeply affected by the war and the traumatic memories it brought, Moore created Tube Shelter Perspective as part of his well-appraised Blitz Shelter series. -
Moore commissioned large-scale sculpture works like Large Reclining Figure for global installations and exhibitions. These are supplemented by later drawings and lithographs in Moore's final years.
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Moore establishes the Henry Moore Foundation to preserve his legacy.
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Moore created The Artist's Hand V as part of his series the Artist's Hand. -
Moore created Large Reclining Figure as an enlarged version of his earlier work Reclining Figure for the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in Singapore. -
Moore died in his home in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.