Description

Henry Moores evocative drawings from the so-called Shelter series sketches made in Londons underground when it was used as a bomb shelter during the London Blitz of 194041 provide the heart of this book, with over 70 drawings and seven sculptures included. However, based on a firstever collaboration between the Henry Moore Foundation and the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the book also reveals some remarkable parallels with Russias wartime experience by including drawings sketched in the basements of the Hermitage during the Siege of Leningrad which started in September 1941 and lasted for 900 days, during which time almost a third of the population died from starvation. Sketched by a young architect, Mikhail Nikolsky, the Hermitage drawings provide a fascinating counterpoint to Moores shelter drawings, which are now regarded as a high point in the creative life of one of Britains most prolific and admired sculptors of the 20th century. Timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Siege in 2011, the book also includes documentary photographs of both the Blitz and the Siege of Leningrad.