AN exhibition of drawings and sculptures by Henry Moore opens at The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum in Oxton next month.

The work will be on view at the Slatey Road venue from February 8 to April 13.

Born in Yorkshire in 1898, Moore was the contemporary equivalent of the great Neo Classical sculptors such as Canova and Thorwaldsen.

His monumental bronze public sculptures are famous around the worldAbstractions of organic shapes were Moore's primary motif.

He was quoted in 1964 as saying: "In my opinion, everything, every shape, every bit of natural form, animals, people, pebbles, shells, anything you like are all things that can help you to make a sculpture."

The largest collection of his work that is open to the public can be seen within the house and grounds of the 40-acre estate, that was Moore's home for forty years, in Perry Green, Hertfordshire and which is owned now by the Henry Moore Foundation.

However, other notable pieces by Moore, who died in 1986, aged 88, can be seen in locations as diverse as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, outside the House of Lords in London, Jerusalem and Hong Kong.