In the statue garden of the Museum of Modern Art Arnhem is the statue “The Warrior” by the British artist Henry Moore (1898-1986). In the First World War Moore served as a private in the British Army and came into contact with poison gas during the battle of Cambrai (1917). A year later, after he had recovered, he was promoted to lance-corporal and given a job as an instructor at a training camp. This is not what Moore wanted, so he put himself forward for active service in France, but by the time the request had been granted and he had crossed the channel a cease fire had been declared. A few months later Henry Moore was discharged from military service and returned to his work as an artist.

Between the two world wars Moore exhibited at diverse exhibitions and visited museums in Paris and Italy. In 1938 he made an active contribution to the international exhibition of abstract art in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. With the outbreak of World War II Moore became famous for his drawings of Londoners in the shelters during the German blitz. His appointment as official war artist followed in 1941 and he produced drawings and statues about the war on assignment for the British government. [1] 

In 1955 Henry Moore participated in the Sonsbeek exhibition in Arnhem with his artwork “The Warrior”, produced in 1953/1954. The statue consists of a bronze warrior in a fighting stance atop a concrete plinth. Later Moore wrote this about the statue. [2]

“The idea was developed from a pebble I found on the beach, which made me think of the stump of a leg that had been amputated at the hip. As Leonardo [da Vinci] had already written, the painter can see the war in the lichen on the wall, and that pebble gave me the idea for my warrior, someone who is wounded but still ready to do battle.”

At the closure of the Sonsbeek exhibition the statue, one of five examples made, was bought by Arnhem council. But where best to place the work of art? Burgomaster Chris Matser and artist Henry Moore thought of a location between Airborneplein and the yet to be drained Lauwersgracht. Lauwersgracht was not drained and the statue was eventually placed right next to the city moat. A few years later it was pushed into the water by vandals.

The resurfaced artwork was then given various temporary locations in the city until in 1972 it came to rest at the spot where the Jacob Groenewoud Garden would later be made. In April 1997 “The Warrior” was removed at the insistence of Arnhemmer Piet van Leeuwen and restored, but not returned to its place. The plinth remained in position and now carries a photo as part of the monument.[3]

Finally, on the initiative of the Museum for Modern Art, the statue was placed in the museum’s statue garden as a way of ensuring its continued existence. After all, in September 1944 heavy fighting also took place here at the museum, known to the British veterans as ‘the monastery’.

A second example of “The Warrior” is in the Kunsthalle Mannheim and, in common with the statue described above, was purchased in 1955. This work is also in bronze, but mounted on a wooden plinth. It is said to be the first statue from the series of five.[4]