Mo(o)re for the Tate

London's Tate Gallery owns more Henry Moores than any other museum --about 50 pieces in all. But, like the works of Britain's foremost living sculptor, the Tate's Moore collection also has a number of holes. Moore, who has always had "a soft spot" for the Tate, has saved a copy of every work he has done since 1949. He has long planned a gift of 20 or 30 pieces--worth, at current market prices, between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000--to provide a complete cross-section of his life work.

All the same, when word of the intended bequest leaked to London's Sunday Telegraph last week, the Tate was embarrassed. Moore wants to be certain that his works can be publicly displayed, but the gallery still needs to raise $2,100,000 for a new wing. Nonetheless, Moore plans to announce an itemized gift list next year on his 70th birthday. "If the gallery puts up a special wing with a complete unity of its own, I shall be pleased," he said, adding: "But I am not laying down any conditions."

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