Henry Moore

New Zealand's only public Henry Moore sculpture is Bronze Form, in Salamanca Lawn in the Wellington Botanical Gardens. The Wellington Sculpture Trust agreed with the City Council and the Fletcher Challenge Corporation to purchase a Henry Moore for the city. The deputy chair of the Trust (Dr Ian Prior, a senior physician in the city) visited Henry Moore in 1986 and arranged to purchase Bronze Form.

The sculpture was originally placed in Midland Park in the centre of the city in 1988, being moved to its present site in 1995.

Moore was one of the outstanding sculptors of the 20th century. His work has had a strong influence on contemporary figural sculpture.

The most important and lasting influence on Moore's work was the world of nature. 'The human figure', he wrote, is what interests me most deeply, but I have found principles of form and rhythm from the study of natural objects, such as pebbles, rocks, bones, trees, plants.'

In the early 1980s Moore developed an opened-out three part sceptre, where an internal profile form became the central figure in "Figure in a Shelter". He later decided that "Bronze Form" was a piece that could be totally independent and stand in its own right. There were six cast, and the one in Wellington is Nø 4.

On a sign near this sculpture, Moore is quoted as saying:

All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she looks, but they don't really, you know.

Another night in Wellington as S is going with friends to the Wearable Art show tonight. I will do some reading as a I wait for her to return. Early flight tomorrow back to Auckland.