Henry Moore was an artist and sculptor. Born into a poor mining family in Castleford, he became well known for his large scale abstract cast bronze and carved marble sculptures; substantially supported by the British art establishment, Moore helped to introduce a particular strand of modernism into Britain. His ability to satisfy large-scale commissions, led him to become exceptionally wealthy towards the end of his life, although he spent little and the bulk of his wealth went to endow the Henry Moore Foundation which continues to support education and promotion of the arts. His signature form is a pierced reclining figure, first influenced by a Toltec-Maya sculpture known as "Chac Mool," which he had seen as a plaster cast in Paris in 1925. Early versions are pierced conventionally as a bent arm reconnects with the body; later more abstract versions are pieced directly through the body, in order to explore the concave and convex shapes. These more extreme piercings developed in parallel with Barbara Hepworth's sculptures, when she first pierced a torso after misreading a review of one of Henry Moore's early shows.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1774: Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen, corroborating the prior discovery of this chemical element by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/oxygen)

1798: French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile started between French and British fleets. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile)

1927: People's Liberation Army was established in China. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army)

1944: The Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation began in Poland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising)

1981: MTV debuted with the song Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"From without, no wonderful effect is wrought within ourselves, unless some interior, responding wonder meets it. That the starry vault shall surcharge the heart with all rapturous marvelings, is only because we ourselves are greater miracles, and superber trophies than all the stars in universal space." -- Herman Melville (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville)