Botanical garden’s Moore exhibit is largest ever in U.S.

When Ronald Penrose placed a Henry Moore sculpture in his garden in 1946, neighbors in his London suburb pitched a fit.

My, how times change.

Today, the presence of the great British artist’s sculptures at the Atlanta Botanical Garden makes it one of metro Atlanta’s premier art destinations for the summer.

The largest exhibit ever in this country, its 20 pieces include Moore’s favorite motifs —- reclining nude, mother and child —- as well as monumental abstractions (one you can walk through) and a lone male figure, who, not surprisingly, hunkers down in the lily pond, wielding a shield.

Moore, who died in 1986, was already a mature artist when he started making monumental outdoor sculptures in the late 1940s. He had long ago developed his signature style, brewed from close study of primitive art, Old Masters, Surrealism and Modernism.

His figures are shorthand —- allusive shapes characterized by the manipulation of concave, convex and contrasts —- of solids and voids.

Even now, many viewers wouldn’t ordinarily cotton to his most abstracted figures. Yet Moore is a beloved artist. Perhaps his archetypal themes make the work accessible. Who can’t relate to mother and child?

Art history buffs will appreciate his variations on another venerable motif, the reclining nude. The white fiberglass “Large Reclining Figure” evokes Titian, Goya and —- especially in its setting at the edge of the Great Lawn —- Manet’s “Le Dejourner sur L’Herbe (Lunch on the Grass).”

It also makes for an interesting counterpoint to the lustier, fleshier (and flashier) versions in Niki de Saint Phalle’s 2006 garden show.

The sculptures are scattered throughout the property. A great move, it creates a sense of discovery, both physically and visually. When they appear in different settings —- cradled in the shady woodlands, planted amid the sun-raked cacti, framed by an allee of trees —- you become aware of how context affects our perceptions.

“Moore in America” is the ABG’s fifth art exhibit. The garden is on a roll. May it continue.

Art review

“Moore in America”

Through Oct. 31. $15; $12, seniors 65+ and children 3-17; free for members and children under 3. 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; open until 10 p.m. Thursdays. Atlanta Botanical Garden, 1345 Piedmont Ave. 404-876-5859. www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

The Bottom Line: A must-see.