[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

MOORE, Henry “Harry” Humphrey [1844–1926]

“Pandora’s Box”

1918

oil on canvas / 21 inches by 16 inches

Were it not for its late date, “Pandora’s Box” might be considered an example of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, whose subjects tended toward the medieval or the mythological. Here, Pandora’s curiosity will open the box containing all the evils of the world.

Henry (“Harry”) Moore is of interest beyond his abilities as a painter. Born deaf in New York City, he studied art at Philadelphia with Samuel Waugh, father of Frederick Waugh — yet another link between our collection and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art — and with Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux Arts. Moore then spent several years painting in both Morocco and Japan. Moore died in Paris, which the Doyle auction house biography accounts for his lack of reputation.

“Pandora’s Box” is on long-term loan to the Collection from Agincourt’s own locksmith, Pandora Lock & Key, through the generosity of their proprietors, the Clavis Brothers.