Twenty years after the last major exhibition at the Fondazione Cini in Venice, another chance to learn about the work of one of the world's most important contemporary sculptors and his rapport with Italy. Representing the whole career of the artist from the 1920s to the 1970s, a fine selection of his works (sculpture, drawings, water-colors, prints and films), mainly from the Tate Gallery in London, a partner in this joint venture, the exhibition is enhanced by some outstanding loans from collections in Italy.
The book begins with an introduction by Stephens who looks into Moore’s output and its unusual rapport between solids and voids, in a sense of continuity between the inner and the outer, like his sculptures, with his famous reclining female figures, the expression of eternal femininity, which not only exist in space but, at the same time, carve out a place in it.
Much attention focuses on the English period in the first half of the 20th century and Moore’s influence on promising young British artists. In keeping with the aura of the exhibition setting, it also examines the sculptor’s close rapport with the Ancient world, it examines his exhibitions in Italy and how they were received by the art culture of the 1950s.
Later in the book, the writer looks at some of the pairings which interested the artist, such as Surrealism and Abstract Art, war and peace (with his ‘Shelter Drawings’), art for public settings and his monumental creations executed to fit in with their settings.
The book contains a series of other information, including a useful illustrated biography, a lengthy critic anthology, including some classic articles about Moore, and an impressive number of articles written by Moore himself, where he talks about Italy.