The Atlanta Botanical Garden will celebrate the debut of its expansion in May with an exhibition of the revered sculptor Henry Moore.

The largest outdoor display of his work ever in the United States, "Moore in America" will feature 20 monumental sculptures, both the reclining figures for which the late British artist is most famous and his organic abstractions.

JOHN PEDEN, courtesy of Henry Moore Foundation (ENLARGE)

Artist Henry Moore is most famous for his reclining sculptures like 'Reclining Figure: Angles'.

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Though still seeking sponsors for the $1.3 million exhibit, the garden staff is going full speed ahead in the planning. Curators from the Henry Moore Foundation in Great Britain visited a year ago to help determine the placement of the sculptures. Pieces, which will be installed throughout the property, will be featured at the botanical garden's new visitors center and new Southern Seasons Garden.

"There will be a Moore around every corner," says executive director Mary Pat Matheson.

Moore has long topped Matheson's wish list for an art in the garden show. "I love the organic nature of his work," she says. "It's perfect for the garden."

When the Moore foundation's exhibition at London's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, opened last year, Matheson began lobbying the foundation to bring it stateside. The New York Botanical Garden had the same idea, so the show became a joint venture. "Moore in America" opened in New York May 22 and runs through Nov. 2.

The Atlanta setting departs from the pastoral or open-plaza setting in which Moore's work is most commonly seen.

"Our site is horticulturally intense," Matheson says. "Our palette is colors, tropicals, flowers.

"I think visitors will see Moore in a new way."

The popularity of the 2004 exhibit of Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture, which doubled ABG attendance, proved that art exhibits are a good way to expand the garden's audience. Since then, it has hosted works by Niki de St. Phalle and now features "Sculpture in Motion: Art Choreographed by Nature," an exhibit of kinetic sculpture on view through October.

Matheson also sees art exhibits as a contribution to the community.

"Atlanta has yet to achieve the quality of public art we are capable of," she says. "We want to continue to enhance the city's offerings."

Good for the garden, good for art and good for Moore. As he once said, "I would rather have a piece of my sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in, or on, the most beautiful building I know."

AJC staff writer Katie Leslie contributed to this story.