Family Group

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.

1948

The Venice Biennale prize

In 1948 Moore won the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale.

1951

Turns down a knighthood

In 1951 Moore declined a knighthood, feeling that it would make him seem an establishment figure and might cut him off from fellow artists with similar aims. He later accepted the Order of the Companions of Honour (1955) and the Order of Merit (1963).

1951

“Reclining Figure: Festival” at the Festival of Britain

At the 1951 Festival of Britain Moore exhibited Reclining Figure: Festival, a plaster typical of his later manner: an abstract female figure intercut with voids.