Henry Moore Postcard to Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark 2 December 1967
Henry Moore Postcard to Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark 2 December 1967, FrontTate Archive TGA 8812/1/3/2095
Henry Moore Postcard to Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark 2 December 1967, BackTate Archive TGA 8812/1/3/2095
In November 1963 Henry Moore was approached by Professor William McNeill, Head of History at the University of Chicago to create a work commemorating the world’s first controlled nuclear chain reaction which, through the work of the physicist Enrico Fermi, took place in the university’s laboratories in 1942.
Moore agreed and arrived on 29 November 1967 to oversee the installation of the large bronze sculpture Nuclear Energy 1964–6 and to attend the inauguration of the sculpture at 3.36 pm on 2 December, the exact time of Fermi’s experiment twenty-five years earlier. With this postcard of a painting by Jacques-Louis David in the Art Institute of Chicago Moore sent a brief note about the ceremony to the Clarks.
Transcript
[Handwritten:]
Chicago. Dec 2nd/ 67.
I’m here to place the large ‘Nuclear Energy’ piece. It was unveiled (in damp cold weather) this afternoon with terrific pomp and ceremony – but all went well, I think.
Have enjoyed 3 short (one hour) visits to the Art Institute – some wonderful pictures – love to you both
Henry.
Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark
Saltwood Castle
Saltwood
Nr Hythe
KENT.
ENGLAND.
Saltwood Castle
Saltwood
Nr Hythe
KENT.
ENGLAND.
[Printed on postcard:]
JAQUES-LOUIS DAVID (1748–1825)
La Marquise de Pastoret, c.1791/92
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
La Marquise de Pastoret, c.1791/92
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
How to cite
Henry Moore, Postcard to Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark, 2 December 1967, in Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity, Tate Research Publication, 2015, https://www