“The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.” - Henry Moore

Born July 30, 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, Moore began his studies in teaching, 1915. After serving as Lance-Corporal and an official war artist in the army during the First World War, Moore went to Leeds School of Art for two years. In 1921 he was granted a scholarship to attend Royal College of Art until 1925, when he traveled to Italy and France. Around this time, he became interested in the Mayan, Egyptian and African sculpture he saw at the British Museum and during his travels. Moore was highly influenced by the Mexican pre-Columbian work in the Aztec Chacmool, and used these references in his first Mother and Child sculptures, 1922. Moore worked at the Royal College of Art, and later moved to Chelsea School of Art as the Founder of Department of Sculpture, until 1939. He became a member of Unit One, a group of artists organized by Paul Nash in the 1930’s. In the 1950’s Moore worked mostly with bronze, creating “Internal and External Forms,” which echo the relationship between man and woman or mother and child. In the 1960’s he produced his most abstracted work, inspired by the art of Brancusi. Moore passed away August 31, 1986 in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.