From Publishers Weekly
How do we reconcile Moore, the creator of universal icons, with Moore, the down-to-earth Yorkshire rustic who summed up his WW I experience as a soldier in these superficial words: "For me the war passed in a romantic haze of hoping to be a hero"? In tracing the sculptor's evolution from protected, mother-bound child to hewer of archetypal forms who learned from surrealism even as he was forging his own abstract style, Berthoud never fully explains the incongruity. Written with Moore's approval and cooperation before his death in 1985, this first full biography offers a balanced, engrossing appraisal of the sculptor's work, even though it sometimes verges on becoming a career recitation. Praising Moore's sculpture became a form of evangelism for the cause of modern art and for postwar Britain. Berthoud (Graham Sutherland) cuts through the hype to explain how Moore became receiver and transmitter of signals from suffering humanity, in an art at once tribal and individual. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
To separate the man from the myth and to retain the integrity of both is the major role of Moore's biographer. Berthoud, who knew Moore for over 30 years, portrays him as both straightforward country man and preeminent sculptor. He uses archives and interviews to trace the artist from Yorkshire origins through World War I experiences to the achievements of the post-World War II years. His book views Moore's art as personal inspiration reflecting the troubled years of the century, although the later work, while often innovative, was divorced from the art of the 1960s and 70s. As the first authorized full biography this is an important contribution, one that generally maintains the balance between admiration and critical judgment. (Illustrations not seen.) Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Mus. Lib., New YorkCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hilton Kramer, The Boston Globe, for the first edition
“A very readable biography—the first to give us a comprehensive account of the artist.”

Library Journal
is a necessary purchase for collections with an interest in 20th-century art. Highly recommended.

Choice
“Moore's life and his exhibitions are ably recounted and illustrated with photographs.”

From the Publisher
Henry Moore’s rise from Yorkshire miner’s son to international acclaim as the 20th century’s greatest sculptor is one of the most remarkable stories in British art. In this handsomely illustrated second edition of The Life of Henry Moore—now revised, updated, expanded, and redesigned—Roger Berthoud charts Moore’s transition from controversial young modernist to celebrated pillar of the art world establishment. Drawing on his weekly interviews with the sculptor as well as a mass of material, including early letters and interviews with Moore’s friends and associates, Berthoud gives us a lively, balanced, definitive portrait of Henry Moore’s long life and career. New Edition Roger Berthoud, former arts journalist for The Times and the Independent, is also the author of the definitive biography of Graham Sutherland.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Henry Moore's rise from Yorkshire miner's son to international acclaim as the twentieth century's greatest sculptor is one of the most remarkable stories in British art. In this revised, updated, expanded and redesigned new edition of The Life of Henry Moore, Roger Berthoud charts Moore's transition from controversial young modernist to pillar of the art-world establishment, garlanded with domestic and foreign honours. His account is enriched by the weekly interviews he did with Moore -- and his wife Irina -- before the sculptor's death in 1986, aged eighty-eight.

At home and abroad Moore's sculptures aroused strong passions and were often the object of abuse, sharp criticism and even physical assault, as well as of admiration. He was attacked by younger artists, among others, who saw his growing fame as an obstacle to their advancement. He was to survive the ebb and flow in his reputation, and emerge with the status of a contemporary old master.

From a mass of material, including recently discovered early letters, and interviews with Moore's friends, his former assistants and students, dealers, collectors, museum officials and leading architects with whom he worked, Roger Berthoud has built up a lively and engaging though not uncritical picture of Moore's long life and career in this definitive biography.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

How do we reconcile Moore, the creator of universal icons, with Moore, the down-to-earth Yorkshire rustic who summed up his WW I experience as a soldier in these superficial words: ``For me the war passed in a romantic haze of hoping to be a hero''? In tracing the sculptor's evolution from protected, mother-bound child to hewer of archetypal forms who learned from surrealism even as he was forging his own abstract style, Berthoud never fully explains the incongruity. Written with Moore's approval and cooperation before his death in 1985, this first full biography offers a balanced, engrossing appraisal of the sculptor's work, even though it sometimes verges on becoming a career recitation. Praising Moore's sculpture became a form of evangelism for the cause of modern art and for postwar Britain. Berthoud (Graham Sutherland) cuts through the hype to explain how Moore became receiver and transmitter of signals from suffering humanity, in an art at once tribal and individual. (November)

Library Journal

Though it is dangerous to call any artist "the greatest," certain figures cry out for such appellations. In the 20th century, Picasso, through the force of his personality as well as his work, can bear the weight of "the greatest artist," and, as Berthoud amply demonstrates in this update to his 1987 biography, Henry Moore can be called "the greatest sculptor." Berthoud (Graham Sutherland: A Biography), an art writer and editor for numerous British publications, traces Moore's rise from Yorkshire miner's son to doyen of the international art world in extensive detail. Moore's life and art are both explored, and his relationships with his wife and daughter, friends, and patrons show the sculptor as a lively, always engaging, and occasionally prickly personality. The biography includes an extensive chronology of the activities of the Henry Moore Foundation since Moore's death in 1982. This greatly expanded and revised version of the 1987 edition is a necessary purchase for collections with an interest in 20th-century art. Highly recommended.-Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal