Henry Moore: The Helmet Heads, Wallace Collection

While studying at art school in London in the 1920s, artist Henry Moore wiled away many hours at the city’s museums and recent research has revealed that it was the not inconsiderable time he spent at the Wallace Collection that fed his fascination with armour. Over the next couple of decades he would make numerous visits, studying the forms that would inspire some of his most iconic works.

Consisting of over sixty sketches, models, and sculptures the ‘helmet works’ have been brought together in an exhibition juxtaposing them with the Renaissance armour that kindled his interest in these protective pieces. Alongside many items from the Wallace Collection, the exhibition includes a Greek helmet dating from the 7th century BC and headwear from Moore’s time serving as a machine-gunner and bayonet instructor during the first world war.

But Moore’s interest in armour extended beyond the ‘helmet works.’ It also permeated key themes within his art – ideas surrounding the internal and external, protective structures and maternal love. The exhibition also touches on armour as an art form in its own right, on the expressive potential of what can seem an otherwise very practical piece of deign.