Henry Moore was one of the few modern artists to extend his work into the realm of tapestry. Working closely with the Tapestry Studio at West Dean, Moore commissioned a series of tapestries based on his drawings. The brilliance of the drawings is confirmed in their transition to large tapestries, seven or eight times the size of the original, losing nothing of their power in the process, and retaining all the textural qualities of the drawing, from a smudgy chalk line to a decisive pen stroke.
This is the only book to deal exclusively with Moore's tapestries, and is now available for the first time in paperback. Ann Garrould places the tapestries in the context of Moore's work, discussing the drawings chosen and the way in which the subjects reflect Moore's three 'obsessions': the mother and child, the reclining human figure and the larger form enclosing the smaller. Valerie Power describes the production of the tapestries themselves, from the dyeing of the wools and the interpretation of the drawing in consultation with Henry Moore, to the final weaving process.
