6 March 2019 – 23 June 2019
Organised with the Henry Moore Foundation

★★★★ '..atmospheric drawings, lithographs and small-scale sculptures that will surprise visitors...' — The Times
★★★★ 'Credit to the curators...' — The Telegraph
★★★★ 'Walking through this show...you suddenly start seeing the world like Moore does.' — Time Out

"I spent many hours at the Wallace Collection looking at armour..." - Henry Moore, 1980

Henry Moore: The Helmet Heads was the first major exhibition to explore the great twentieth-century British sculptor’s fascination with armour. Ground-breaking new research revealed that Moore’s long relationship with the Wallace Collection directly inspired the creation of his celebrated Helmet Head sculptures, which were shown here together for the very first time.

Presented in collaboration with the Henry Moore Foundation, the exhibition uncovered the previously unknown role of specific helmets and armour from the Wallace Collection in influencing Moore’s ideas and creations. This was the first time that Moore’s helmet-related works, comprising over sixty sketches, drawings, maquettes and full-sized sculptures in plaster, lead and bronze, were comprehensively assembled to be juxtaposed with the Renaissance armour that inspired them.