In 1930s London Moore joined Unit One, a radical and seminal movement, alongside Paul Nash, Barbara Hepworth, John Armstrong, Ben Nicholson and Edward Wadsworth. Unit One took a major role in the organisation of the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936. This exhibition will show how Unit One influenced Moore’s career, and that his work cannot be fully understood without reference to this period.

After the Second World War Moore achieved phenomenal global success and fame, winning the International Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale, and major public commissions and exhibitions worldwide. His stature was such that it overwhelmed many younger artists, spurring a generation that reacted to or rebelled against his art.

In 1952 Moore exhibited at the Venice Biennale alongside a group of younger sculptors including Lynn Chadwick, Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler and William Turnbull. Dubbed the ‘Geometry of Fear’ school by Herbert Read, their industrial surfaces and post-apocalyptic subject matter stood in direct opposition to Moore’s serene organic forms. In the post-modern era Moore continued to act as a catalyst for younger artists, standing as the very emblem of British Art. Anthony Gormley, Bruce McLean and Sarah Lucas have all utilised his forms as a point in which to admire or mock his work.