Moore outside is more

[rekha2010]

Denver — It says something about the human mind that it instantly perceives the human body in the eccentric forms of Henry Moore’s sculptures.

Is the brain hard-wired with homo-sapien-centricity? Children see faces and bodies in all manner of shapes. Why shouldn’t adults?

The human body indeed was Moore’s primary inspiration. But the fact is that though little in a Moore sculpture like “Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped” lines up with the figures we know from life, the work obviously refers to the body. The human element is the beating heart of his stylized forms.

“Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped” is one of twenty large Moore sculptures on view through January 2011 at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

The show is billed as the first outdoor exhibition of Moore’s sculpture in the western United States.

Moore is “generally acknowledged as the most important British sculptor of the 20th century,” according to a Museum of Modern Art biography, and he’s one of the most influential sculptors of his time.

He was born in 1898 in Yorkshire, England, to a coal miner and his wife. As a soldier during World War I, Moore was gassed during the Battle of Cambrai. He later enrolled in the Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London.

An aspect of his formative years as an artist that set him apart was his interest in African, Pre-Columbian and other forms of non-European art, according to MOMA.

Moore liked his work to be viewed outdoors, where the changing environment enhanced the experience of seeing the work.
The Botanic Gardens show offers an arresting demonstration of how a landscape can serve not just to enrich a work of art but also become a part of it. Moore’s “Large Reclining Figure” is placed on a hill. The white of the sculpture is set against the green of the hill’s groomed grass and, during a recent early-afternoon visit, slate-colored clouds. The large work is made to appear even more monumental with its position on a hilltop.

The environment, the weather and the sculpture combine to provide an encompassing visual impression. And it’s not just visual. Garden fragrances, breezes, subtle sounds from the nearby pathways — these all color contemplation of the work.

The Gardens offers guided tours of the sculptures on a drop-in basis 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, depending on guide availability.

Two Moore sculptures are on display at the Chatfield location of the Gardens, at 8500 Deer Creek Canyon Road in Littleton.