At least 20 or more years ago, back in the early days of the Bermuda Art Centre at Dockyard, I recall a conversation I had with Bermudian sculptor, Paul Doughty. He was talking about his student days at Parson School of Design and especially about one of his instructors in sculpture, who formerly, had been an assistant to internationally renowned British sculptor Henry Moore.

Mr. Doughty remembered that this former assistant said that on one occasion, Henry Moore had been in New York and afterwards had travelled to Bermuda for a few days and that he had been impressed with our rock formations.

I can see that he would be impressed, if indeed there was such a visit. About that same time, I, myself, collected some rocks from Rocky Bay, just west of John Smith's Bay that looked so much like Henry Moore sculptures. I was sufficiently intrigued by the possibility of a Moore visit to Bermuda, I contacted the Henry Moore Foundation about it. Their reply, as I remember, was that they had no knowledge of such a visit. That still leaves the door open the possibility, but it makes it seems less likely.

When the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art recently announced an exhibition of Henry Moore's Bermuda drawings, I was again intrigued about even the remotest possibility of such a visit and before the show officially opened, while the Masterworks personal were still putting the finishing touches on the exhibition, I finagled a private visit to the show.

I was also able to question Tom Butterfield and Elice Outerbridge about a possible Henry Moore visit to Bermuda. It is their understanding that there was no such visit and that these drawings result from a gift of shells that David Mitchinson picked up in Bermuda and then gave to Mr. Moore.

It seems that David Mitchinson, presently curator of the Henry Moore Foundation and an author of several books on Henry Moore, visited Bermuda in November 1982 and then had given these items to Mr. Moore shortly afterward. The drawings are dated as being made in 1983. By this time Henry Moore was up in years and physically declining, although the quality of the drawings are still firmly in Henry Moore's signature style. He was to die just over two years later at the age of eighty-eight.

This is a fascinating, albeit, a small show. There are only seven drawings altogether. Nevertheless, it is worth taking the time to study them in the ideal environment offered by the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art. The actual shells can be seen in the sitting room at Hoglands, Henry Moore's English home. The drawings are on a long-term loan to the Masterworks Museum.