A leading figure of modern British sculptors, Henry Moore is regarded as one of the most significant British artist of the 20th century. Moore started his creative career exploring Primitive Art, conveying the influence of classical, surrealist, and non-western art into a modernist practice. Working with various mediums and styles, he is best known for exploring the human shape in a highly abstract manner through smooth, twisted organic curves and linear joints. These biomorphic shapes reflect Moore’s belief that observation of nature is key to artistic creation. A friend and colleague of fellow renowned sculptor Barbara Hepworth, whom he met in 1919 at the Leeds School of the Art, Moore admired the work of his contemporaries. His style resonates with that of Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp. Moore’s monumental bronze and marble sculptures can be found in parks and piazzas across the world. He executed numerous public commissions in the 1950s, among them a marble reclining figure for the UNESCO building in Paris. His oeuvre was also a focus of a major retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1946, and in 1948 he won the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale. Featured at the Tate Gallery London, the Guggenheim in New York and several other renowned institutions, Henry Moore’s international achievements characterized his career.