Henry Moore and John Hedgecoe

Henry Moore and John Hedgecoe were close friends since they first met in 1956, a meeting arranged by Julia Hedgecoe, who has photographed them together here. Although John Hedgecoe dated their first meeting as 1952, Julia Hedgecoe said it did not take place until 1956. [1] Julia Mardon and John Hedgecoe were both aspiring photographers when they first visited the sculptor. Already well-established in his career, Moore frequently had visitors seeking him out, and often made time for young art students. Hedgecoe was invited back again the day after their first visit to take photographs of Moore’s works, which Moore decided to include in an exhibition of his work. The two soon became firm friends spending every weekend together and going on holiday together each year.

In total, Hedgecoe took around 6,000 photographs of Moore. [2] In some of his photography manuals Hedgecoe used his images of the sculptor as an example of how to take a prolonged portrait of a single subject. [3] As Hedgecoe explained, with photography ‘you capture forever a frozen instant of time. But how much more meaningful those images can be is made plain when you see a progression of pictures of the same person taken over a long period of time.’ [4] His photographs of Moore formed the basis of four books, which incorporated Hedgecoe’s photographs alongside Moore’s words. Although he produced around 30 photography manuals, these were Hedgecoe’s only books on a single subject.

Like John Hedgecoe, Julia Hedgecoe also had a successful career as a portrait photographer.

Tania Moore, January 2021

[1] In conversation with Tania Moore, January 2020.

[2] As estimated by Charlotte Bullions and Emily Unthank at the Henry Moore Foundation, 2020.

[3] John Hedgecoe, Photographing People (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), p.56.

[4] Ibid.