Henry Moore at Kew Gardens

Perfect summer's day for a trip to Kew Gardens to see the Henry Moore exhibition. Kew works very well as a venue for large scale sculpture - it has plenty of space and you get the element of surprise as a large form appears from behind a tree.

Three Piece Sculpture; Vertebrae

Note the parched grass. The drought is showing.

Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge

Reclining Figure: Arch Leg (Yeah ok not anatomically accurate and seemingly missing the other leg....)

A group influenced by totem poles - "Upright Motives"

Upright Motive No 7

Upright Motive No 5

Upright Motive No 9

Large Spindle Piece

Orangery in background where we stopped for late breakfast. I had a scone and cream, but with breakfast tea, thereby converting afternoon tea to breakfast tea in my books

Figure in a Shelter

Kew Palace. Not by Henry Moore

Large Totem Head

Goslar Warrior - my favourite of all the sculptures

Oval with Points

Large Two Forms (not the most imaginative of titles)

Reclining Figure: Bunched

Large Reclining Figure (for once not in bronze)

Two Piece Reclining Figure No 2

Reclining Woman: Elbow

Not good at faces.....

We stepped into the Shirley Sherwood Gallery to see some smaller works meant for indoors

Two Piece Reclining Figure: Cut

Working Model for Locking Piece

Draped Reclining Figure

Three Piece Reclining Figure; Draped

David eyeing "Hill Arches" suspiciously . A rare departure from human(ish) forms

Reclining Mother and Child

Large Interior Form

Now Ben had optimistically booked a Shakespeare walking tour prior to him and his mother going to the Globe to see Much Ado About Nothing. Alison opted out of that and so I took up the free place. 

Meeting place was in the foyer at the Globe, but our enthusiastic tour guide took great pains to explain that the Globe itself was not part of the tour. It was based on crime in the time of Shakespeare. The Shakespeare connections were tenuous, but it was an entertaining enough romp through Elizabethan crime and punishment. Although with a couple of boys I guess under ten on the tour she couldn't be as candid as she might have been. I loved the euphemism "naughtiness" for prostitution!

The College of Arms

The tour finished at about the only place on it where there is a building that actually stood in Shakespeare's time, the Guildhall. The guide was so enthusiastic that she overran by a good half hour - the few people on the tour, including Ben, that had tickets for the Globe performance were lead back to the Globe early by a colleague!