Piano Nobile

17/10/2026

03/07/2026

In his drawings, Henry Moore frequently invented sequences of sculptural forms. They were organised in real space with effects of light, shade and modelling. This and a series of other drawings made in 1948–50 depict a subject that Moore originated in 1939, the helmet-head.⁠
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Moore’s helmet form is anthropomorphised. The central, green helmet in this drawing has a pair of ears. The irregular shapes and openings of the helmets suggest the organic properties of a skull rather than an inanimate, crafted object. The relationship between the delicate, spindly forms within and the solid casement is intimate and ambiguous. ⁠
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The helmet-head motif was a synecdoche for the human body: although the motif isolates the head, it is a complete organism that does not register as a fragment. In the case of Helmet Head: Interior/Exterior Forms, the analogy to the human body is evident from the writhing, limb-like silhouettes of the helmets, which suggest the animation of limbs and torsos. Nevertheless, there is a tension between the interior and exterior components. The enclosure provided by the outer form is both protective and threatening, and there is a profound contrast between the apparent strength of the helmet and the vulnerable, open-bodied motifs within.⁠
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Helmet Head: Interior/Exterior Forms is on display as part of our current exhibition Drawn to Paper: Gwen John to Arshile Gorky, which is open at the gallery until 17 July. ⁠
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Henry Moore⁠
Helmet Head: Interior/Exterior Forms, 1950⁠
Pencil, crayon and watercolour on paper

09/05/2026

Piano Nobile is delighted to present a display at TEFAF New York focusing on Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures and paintings from the late forties till the end of her life. The installation will evoke the atmosphere of Hepworth’s Cornish studio at Trewyn with works displayed on platforms, plinths and modelling stands referencing those used by the artist in her lifetime.

Stand 104⁠
Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue⁠
New York

Collectors Preview: Thursday 14 May (by invitation only)
General Access: Friday 15 May – Tuesday 19 May

10/04/2026

Ben Nicholson, one of the few British modernist artists to win international recognition in his lifetime, was born on 10 April in 1894.

For a sustained period between 1945 and 1958, Nicholson often made sophisticated cubistic still-life paintings—many of them on a large scale—and these won him critical recognition in the United States and Europe. Among them was Nov 9–53 (walnut), which appeared in our 2024 exhibition Ben Nicholson: Defining Works 1929-1954.

14/03/2026

Peter Doig, Figure in Mountain Landscape (1999) is currently on show as part of our TEFAF Maastricht presentation.

Peter Doig’s paintings of the nineties reference the snowy landscapes of Northern Canada. Following brief periods in Edinburgh and Trinidad, Peter Doig’s (b. 1959) family settled in Canada and he spent his childhood there between 1966 and 1979. After moving to London in 1979, he went back to Canada and lived in Montreal for two-and-a-half years before starting a graduate course at Chelsea School of Art in 1989. Speaking about this period with Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2023, Doig said ‘I went back into my own biography’. In Canada, he turned to the country’s ‘great landscape tradition’, which ‘wasn’t really known here [in Britain] too much’. ‘I never really planned it but I realised that maybe this was something that could become a way of working for me.’

Learn more about Figure in Mountain Landscape, the focus of this week’s InSight article, and sign up to receive future InSights on our website.

TEFAF Maastricht⁠
Booth 430
12 - 19 March ⁠
MECC, Forum 100, 6229 GV Maastricht, The Netherlands⁠