The Easel

12th May 2026

Henry Moore at Kew: Monumental Nature

Sarah Tucker | The Arbuturian | 9th May 2026

Can a garden become part of an artwork?  The sculptor Henry Moore saw sculpture as “an art of the open air” and this show places thirty of his large modernist works amidst the Victorian splendour of London’s Kew Gardens. While not an obvious pairing the result, says this writer, is “unexpectedly profound”. Amidst Kew’s ancient trees, not only do Moore’s works become “elemental” but the trees begin to look “anatomical … nature keeps quietly demonstrating [sculpture-like] forms nearby. Magnificent.”

5th May 2026

Unfinished magic

David Platzer | The New Criterion | 30th April 2026

A show comparing the sculptures of Michelangelo and Rodin is, says one writer, a “conversation across the centuries.”. Michelangelo wanted to show both anatomy and how it was animated by the human spirit. Rodin concurred and inspired by Michelangelo, discarded the academic style of his day in favour of “fleshy naturalism”.  That included leaving parts of a sculpture incomplete, conveying a sense that the work was imperfect and “in flux”, qualities that are catnip for twentieth century viewers.

Older links