May 6 until October 11, 2009
Henry Moore (1898-1986) - Like nature
Prints 1931-1969
When he visited Lehmbruck Museum in 1965 sculptor, illustrator and graphic artist Henry Moore (1898-1986) became so enthusiastic about this first museums of modern sculpture that he agreed to provide the museum with a copy of every one of his future works of graphic art. From this day onwards he dedicated one copy of each new item to Duisburg. Lehmbruck Museum has these circumstances to thank for its possession of the world's third-largest collection of this artist's graphic works, boasting almost 500 items of graphic art.
Right at the beginning of his career, in 1934, Henry Moore described the idea behind his artistic endeavors, explaining that it was not his intention for his work to mirror reality. Instead, he wanted to display that artistic vitality that corresponds to aesthetics' notions of beauty. Accordingly, his aim was less for his works to recapitulate "on nature" than to come into existence in a creative process "as in nature".
The exhibition of the same name is showing some 80 works produced between 1931 and 1977 in the Lehmbruck wing's Grafisches Kabinett. The Museum is presenting not only the artist's early works which take their orientation from the study of nature but also excerpts from his extensive portfolio dating from the late 1960s and 1970s. Here, Moore's morphological interest in nature is just as obvious as the permanently growing diversity of his graphic art that served as an independent work complex complementing his sculptures.
The exhibition is a contribution to 2009, the "Year of Graphic Art". Many museums in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are opening up their treasure troves and focusing on their unique and rich inventories of works on paper.