Henry Moore fund to pay bills for sculptors struggling with cost of living

Economic crisis prompts renowned artist’s foundation to award special rescue grants for 50 artists totalling £100,000

Henry Moore, the son of a coalminer, would never have created great works of art if he had not received a gift of financial aid as a young man.

A survivor of the battlefields of the first world war, he returned to his hometown of Castleford, West Yorkshire, believing he would become a school teacher. But the intervention of a former art mistress led him to apply for an ex-serviceman’s grant.