Henry Moore Works in Public
This is a guide to Moore's sculptures on public display throughout the world. We strive to ensure that all information is accurate, however we recommend that you contact each venue before making a visit. Please also contact us if you spot any mistakes. In some instances it has not been possible to source an image of the actual sculpture in-situ, and on such occasions an alternative image has been used.
Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan Museum of Art
lignum vitae
height 27.6cm
There have been two major influences on my work. The main one, perhaps, is drawing and modelling from the human figure – I have looked at the nude for half my life. Our own bodies, our own make up, have the greatest influence on art. If we were able to sleep on all fours or were the size of an elephant, for example, our architecture would be entirely different from what it is, so would our art. We know from our hands what things are much better than we would if we had hooves. From our bodies we understand nature; we can’t get away from it and if the landscape were different so would our lives be. So the first influence on me came from studying, and trying to understand, the human figure.
Henry Moore quoted in Henry Moore:Wood Sculpture, commentary by Henry Moore, photographs by Gemma Levine, Sidgwick and Jackson, London 1978, p.15