Reading Around this time, Moore moved vay fom the human figure to experiment with abstract shapes In 1931, he held an exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London. His work was enthusiastically ‘welcomed by fellow sealers, bu the reviews in the press were extremely negative and turned “Moore into a noterious gure. Thare were calls for his resignation from the Reyal College, and the following year, whe hs contract expired, he left to start a sculpture department atthe Chelsea School of Art in Lend, ‘Throughout the 1930s, Moar did not show any inclination to please the British public. He became interested in the painngs ofthe Spanish artist Pablo Peasso, whose work inspired him to distort the human body i a radical way. At times, he seemed to abandon the human figure altogether: The pages of his sketchbooks from this period show his ideas for abstract sculptures that bore litle resemblance othe human form. In 1940, during the Second World War, Moore stopped teaching atthe Chelsea School and moved ‘0 8 farmhouse about 20 miles north of London, A shortage of material forced him to focus fon drawing. He did numerous stall sketches of Londones, later turing these ideas into large coloured drawings in his tdi. Tn 1942, he returned to Castleford to make a series of sketches of the miners who worked ther. In 1944, Harlow, a town near London, offred Moore a commission fora sculpture depicting family. The resulting work signifies e dramatic change in Moore's style, away from the experimentation ofthe 193(s towards a more natural and humanist subject matter. He did dozens of studios in clay fo the sculpture, and theso wore cast in bronze and issued in editions of ‘seven to nine copes each, I thie way, Moore's work became avilable to collectors all over the ‘world The boost to his income enabled him to take on ambitious projects and start working on the sale he felt his sculpture demanded, Cites who had begun otk that Moore had become less revolutionary were proven wrong by the appearance in 1950, ofthe fis of Moore series of sanding figures in bronze, with their harsh and angular pierced firms and distinc impression of menace. Moore alo varied his subject ‘mater inthe 19508 with such works as Warrior with Shield and Falling Woriar. These were rae ‘examples of Mooce’s us ofthe mal figure and owe something to his visit to Greece in 1951, ‘when he had the opportunity to study ancient works of at nis final years, Moore erated the Henry Moore Foundation to promote at appreciation and ‘o display his work. Moore was the fist modern English sculptor to achieve international eitical scclaim and he is sil regarded as one of the most important sculptors ofthe 20th century. 59