United Kingdom, Hertfordshire, Henry Moore Tapestries, Henry Moore Studios and Gardens

The Aisled Barn; a 16th century traditional barn that Moore bought from a local farmer and had moved to the gardens. Today the Aisled Barn houses a set of tapestries based on Moore’s drawings. Woven at the West Dean tapestry workshop; the first of them was commissioned by Moore’s daughter in 1976 (this was West Dean’s first commercial commission). This first tapestry was the start of the creative relationship that saw the production of twenty-three large tapestries that were woven, overseen by Moore, between 1976 and his death in 1986. The weavers worked with his original drawings and photographs to dye the wool, achieving the precise colours and effects of his drawings. Moore kept ten of the tapestries, which are now on long-term display at Hoglands.

Though Moore never made drawings intended specifically as designs for tapestry, he was nonetheless enthusiastic about these enlarged interpretations of his work in another medium, and indeed, the way that the texture of the drawings has been rendered in warp and weft is astounding. Combined with their monolithic size, the effect is physically as well as formally impressive, with the Aisled Barn - a building of exceptional rarity and importance in its own right - a fitting setting. 

Image: Three Fates, 250x350cm, 1984

We featured this exhibition in Issue 97 Red.