Henry Moore (1898-1986)

‘Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus’ Sketch after J.M.W. Turner, 1916

Watercolour

Acquired, 1988

77 x 127mm

A5.111

Wakefield Art Gallery is very lucky to have the earliest known drawing by the Castleford born artist, Henry Moore. It was painted onto a page of an autograph book that belonged to a fellow classmate. In the early years of the 20th Century it was the custom for students to exchange such books to draw illustrations or write short pieces of prose or poetry for their friends

Although small, the watercolour is skilfully done with an intense feeling of atmosphere and light. It is a very close copy of the original by Turner, which Henry Moore probably saw on display at the National Gallery in London and later painted from memory.

We know from later correspondence that Moore admired Turner and wrote ‘Turner painted real space for the first time. Space that has almost solid quality that a fog can have, that smoke can have. And his space is really three-dimensional space.’ Moore was also President of the Turner Society for a period.

This small watercolour is currently on loan to the Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green Hertfordshire and features in an exhibition entitled ’Moore and Mythology’. The exhibition runs until 23 September 2007 and then it will transfer to the Musee Bourdelle, Paris from 17 October 2007 until 28 February 2008.