Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations

My interest in this book came about because Henry Moore is often quoted as saying something like "make it! don't talk about it"; given that, how come there is a substantial book of his writing and conversations? In fairness to Moore most of the entries in this book come from his journals and lecture notes rather than published works. What makes this book so very interesting is Moore's plain speaking about many of the highly complicated issues of art making. I was left with the overwhealming feeling that it would be very nice if contemporary art writers abandoned their incomprehensible elitist academic style in favour of Moore's no less intellectual but ifinitely more readable approach.

Editor Alan Wilkinson was a close friend of Henry Moore, and it shows in the care he put into editing this book. Other than the introduction, entitled "Perfect Symmetry is Death", Wilkinson allowed Moore to speak for himself by drawing from the man's own words, through interviews, articles, letters, and even scribblings in his notebooks.The chapters are arranged under the following headings: "Ch. 1: Life and Influences", "Ch. 2: Friends and Colleagues", "Ch. 3: Art and Artists", "Ch. 4: On Sculpture", and "Ch. 5: Works by Henry Moore". Bibliographical sources, list of Moore's most well known work, and a general keyword index can be found in the back.Because interviews Moore gave in 1973 might refer to events from his childhood, Wilkinson took care to put as much of the artist's words into context by surrounding it with other relevant quotations. For example, on page 35, the passage that begins with "In Castleford, where I was born, there are what called sand holes. They're caves where the sand has been excavated" (1973) is followed by "What is a cave? A cave is a shape. It's not the lump of mountain over it" (1962).With a foreword by Alan Bowness. Overall, a very compelling read.

The best book available for all Moore fans and those who want to be...