More Moore

There's a very good exhibition at the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery called: Moore/Hepworth/Nicholson: A Nest of Gentle Artists in the 1930s.

It's mainly Henry Moore who towers above the trio, but the fascination is the inspiration behind this show:

In the early 1930s a group of artists including Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson took working holidays at Happisburg on the Norfolk coast. A Nest of Gentle Artists explores these holidays - the friendships formed, the work produced, and most importantly their subsequent influence on the development of modern art in Britain. A story of regional interest can be seen to have had an impact of international importance.

Evidently the trio's walks along the beach gave them the chance to pick-up pebbles, many of which had natural holes in them. This led Hepworth and Moore to use holes in their work which became the defining features of their sculpture.

Nearby, at the Sainsbury Centre, is a very modern exhibition called: CHINA CHINA CHINA!!! A quote from Zhang Zao, one of the artists, says: 'Art needs to be inspired by Nature externally, and ultimately be fused with the internal artistic ideals of the artist.'

I see a similarity between the trio above and the quote from the Chinese artist, although the work from each could not be further apart. It is good to think that location can give to imagination, and, important I believe, to remember our impact on the location in which we live and work; particularly now when places are closing down and there is the look of despair not beauty. Of loss, not gain. Of giving up, not taking on.

Somehow we need to rise above that. Let's think back to Moore walking the beach at Happisburg, when he picks up a stone with a natural hole in it. Now look at the pictures of his sculpture above. Who needs banks, who needs money, who needs all of that: when all you need is imagination!