Image: Henry Moore, Two Seated Women and a Child (detail), 1977. Wool warp, wool weft. 212.5 x 269.5cm

This autumn, Hauser & Wirth Gallery Hong Kong is presenting a series of five rarely seen tapestries by Henry Moore, many of which were woven at West Dean Tapestry Studio between 1976-86

The Hong Kong exhibition has been made possible through the artist’s daughter, Mary Moore, who introduced her father to the Tapestry Studio in 1976, and later helped to choose and oversee the intimate watercolour drawings being interpreted into life-size tapestries. The sustained flow of commissions by Moore and his daughter of West Dean Tapestry Studio was a spectacular act of patronage, resulting in 23 tapestries, supporting the immense craftmanship involved in the traditional weaving process.

West Dean Tapestry Studio is one of the only professional tapestry studios in the UK, originating from a vision of Edward James to support traditional arts and craft skills, and carry on the 5,000 year old tradition of woven tapestries. The studio opened as a commercial workshop in 1976 with the commission from Mary Moore to produce a tapestry from the drawing by her father.

The detailed textile works are the result of a true creative collaboration with highly skilled weavers in the West Dean Tapestry Studio, led by Eva-Louise Svensson; dyeing wool to achieve precise colours and blending threads of a great variety of tones to adapt the artist’s original drawing media.

Image: Henry Moore, Three Seated Women with One Child, 1978. Wool warp, wool weft. 212 x 250.5cm

The works were created for the artist’s family and have not been exhibited publicly in over a decade. They were initially unveiled at the V&A, London, in 1980, followed by a tour of New Zealand, America and Canada over the next five years.

Video: Video courtesy of Hauser & Wirth. Artworks © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS / www.henry-moore.org. Courtesy Henry Moore Family Collection

Find out more about the exhibition of Henry Moore Tapestries on the Hauser and Wirth website, where you can also view a virtual tour of the exhibition. The exhibition is available to view until 27 November. 

Explore more about West Dean College.