His recurring subjects include the reclining nude, mother-and-child groups, the warrior, and interlocking abstract forms. Many of his post-1945 works are in bronze or marble, including monumental semi-abstracts such as Reclining Figure 1957-58 (outside the UNESCO building, Paris), and often designed to be placed in landscape settings. He is considered one of the leading artists of the 20th century. Moore's work of the 1920s was based on the human figure and laid stress on truth to material and retaining the shape of the original block, as in Reclining Figure 1929 (Leeds City Art Gallery). This, like much of his work then, was strongly influenced by ancient Mexican art. During the 1930s he was also influenced both by the Surrealists, particularly Alberto Giacometti, and by abstract artists. Their combined impact can be seen in sculptures such as The Bride 1940 (Museum of Modern Art, New York), in which a series of strings which define space are stretched across a biomorphic form (which has affinities with sculpture by Hans Arp and Barbara Hepworth). Semi-abstract work suggesting organic structures recurs in the latter half of the century, for example in the interwoven bonelike forms of the Hill Arches and the bronze Sheep Pieces 1970s, set in fields by his studio in Hertfordshire, England. Moore was born in Castleford, Yorkshire. He studied at the Royal College of Art 1921-24, and began carving in stone and wood 1922. As an official war artist during World War II, he made a series of drawings of people in London's air-raid shelters.
