Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 1936
I’ve been to see Henry Moore at Tate Britain twice now and I plan a third visit before the exhibition closes in August. My favourite room in the exhibition is the one you come to last, Room7: Elm.
I love the Elm room so much because for me it is the clearest example of the way in which Moore worked, and it demonstrates his genius in vivid form. His genius was to work in collaboration with the material to produce his work, the material is as much part of the artistic process as Moore is.
Moore forms the shapes he makes around the wood, working with the grain to balance his vision against what the material is willing to allow him to do.
When Moore started work on the piece above it was a massive, solid block of wood, he didn’t know the exact grain patterns he would reveal, but he started working comfortable in the knowledge that as an artist he was not completely in control.
When Moore finished I can imagine him standing back and in conversation with the wood congratulating and thanking it for bringing him such monumental success. Without understanding and respecting the material Moore’s work wouldn’t mean so much to so many.
Perhaps when Moore finished making his work he didn’t get the shape he saw in his mind’s eye when he started, but the work is better for it, his sympathy and respect for the material to decide where knees, shoulders, breasts and head all precisely sit make the work wholesome, real and meaningful.
And now for the publishing bit…
Henry Moore served his audience work that was shaped around the material that he carved, we must do the same. As we carve our products into new forms we must continually react to changes in the surface of the material with which we work, we cannot force or dictate them into a shape that cuts across the grain; we are not carving a block of blank chalk but a beautiful piece of Elm.
As publishers this means adapting to the grain of cultural, social and economic shifts and where appropriate carving our products using new developments in technology and changes in editorial direction. We have to work in collaboration with and respect the environment in which we publish.
We can only form our products effectively and create them as art by understanding the raw materials we work with will change dramatically as we move forward, we must be ready to adapt quickly and sympathetically to these changes before we disrupt the grain and spoil our products, it is then that our art falters.