Reading lesson

30. Juli 1898

Born

30 November 1917

Gassed at Cambrai

On 30 November 1917 Moore was injured in a gas attack at Bourlon Wood during the Battle of Cambrai. After recovering in hospital he spent the rest of the war as a physical training instructor, returning to France only as the Armistice was signed.

1940–1986

A bomb in Hampstead: the move to Hoglands

In September 1940 bomb shrapnel hit the Moores’ Hampstead home and they left London for Hoglands, a farmhouse in the hamlet of Perry Green near Much Hadham in Hertfordshire. It remained Moore’s home and workshop for the rest of his life; though he grew wealthy he never felt the need to move to larger premises.

March 1946

The birth of his daughter Mary

After several earlier miscarriages Irina gave birth to their only child, Mary, in March 1946, named after Moore’s mother. The loss of his mother and the arrival of the baby focused his mind on the family, which he expressed in many mother-and-child compositions.

1946–1947

A retrospective at MoMA and his first trip to America

In 1946 a retrospective of Moore’s work opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he made his first visit to America. The exhibition brought him fame as one of the finest masters of the twentieth century.

31. August 1986

Died