Elizabeth BainesYorkshire
Watch as Henry Moore statue removed from Leeds
A sculpture by Henry Moore has been lifted from its plinth in Leeds city centre ahead of a temporary move to London.
Reclining Woman: Elbow, created in 1981 by the highly influential West Yorkshire artist, has been a familiar landmark outside Leeds Art Gallery since 1982.
The 2.21m (7ft 3in) long bronze figure, which is on loan from the Henry Moore Foundation, is set to feature in an outdoor Kew Gardens exhibition celebrating his work before returning to Leeds in 2027.
A Leeds Art Gallery spokesperson said the team would “miss Moore’s wonderful work”, but added the artist’s “unique legacy and region’s sculptural heritage will have been enhanced even further” by the time it returns.
Henry Moore: Monumental Nature at Kew Gardens will be the largest outdoor exhibition of Moore’s work ever presented, according to the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Reclining Woman: Elbow will feature among more than 100 pieces, including “30 monumental sculptures” set throughout the gardens.
The exhibition, beginning on 9 May, will celebrate how nature shaped the imagination of Moore, who is considered one of Britain’s greatest sculptors.
Leeds City Council
Reclining Woman: Elbow has been a familiar landmark in Leeds city centre for more than four decades
The sculpture was temporarily removed from its plinth in 2013 when it was loaned to a gallery in Amsterdam.
It joined other sculptures by the Castleford-born sculptor in an exhibition to celebrate the reopening of the Rijksmuseum after a major refurbishment project.
Moore, who died in 1986, studied at the Leeds School of Art in the early 1920s.
Best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronzes and undulating reclining figures, Moore’s formative experiences of the Yorkshire landscape provided an enduring influence on his work.
Alex Moss/BBC
Reclining Woman: Elbow will return to Leeds in 2027
He created more than 1,100 sculptures over the course of his career, according to the Henry Moore Foundation.
Jane Bhoyroo, principal keeper at Leeds Art Gallery, said: “It is exciting to see a sculpture which is so synonymous with the gallery and our close relationship with the Henry Moore Institute going to part of an exhibition which will showcase the work of one of Yorkshire’s most prominent and renowned artists on such a scale.
“We will obviously miss Moore’s wonderful work while it is gone, but we will look forward to welcoming it back in the knowledge that both the artist’s unique legacy and the region’s sculptural heritage will have been enhanced even further.”