THE EYE ON...VISUAL ARTS

Richard Ingleby
Saturday 23 November 1996 00:02 GMT
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Henry Moore, Berkeley Square Gallery, 23a Bruton Street, London W1 (0171-493 7939)

It is 10 years since the death of Henry Moore, the miner's son from Yorkshire who declined all the honours sent his way, preferring to stay plain Mr Moore. He was, according to the popular press, "the greatest living Englishman" and by common consent, the most famous living sculptor in the world.

In London alone, at least 16 major works are scattered across town from Stepney to Chelsea. Some of them fare better than others: the Gothic splendour of the House of Lords forms a more sympathetic backdrop than a Kennington housing estate, but as Moore put it: "I would rather have a piece of sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in the most beautiful building I know."

Like it or not, the language of Moore's sculpture has a place in our national consciousness, and for decades he was our chief ambassador in art to the world at large. His anthropomorphic lumps of bronze and stone have a familiarity which is all too easy to take for granted, but from time to time it is good to be reminded of the enormity of his talents.

A new exhibition at London's Berkeley Square Gallery takes up this challenge. The focus is predominantly Moore's work as a draughtsman and printmaker in the 1970s and 1980s, although a small group of drawings from the 1920s demonstrates an extraordinary continuity across 60 years. The selection of sculpture, mostly little bronzes cast in the later phases of his career, is less inspiring, but the exhibition provides a welcome incentive to look twice at Moore's work as it crops up in the landscape of our daily lives.

EYE ON THE NEW

Yuri Kuper arrives for his first London exhibition on a puff of publicity from a recent show in Moscow. He's billed as the next big thing in the quiet world of still life painting. Judge for yourself. Montpelier Sandelson, 4 Montpelier St, London SW7

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