Maks Velo, Albanian Artist - and Henry Moore

An interview

"In 1978, I was arrested and interrogated for six months after being accused of ‘modernist tendencies’ such as being influenced by Henry Moore’s art. The communist regime regarded western contemporary art as decadent and an attack on Socialist Realism – the officially approved form of art in my country at this time.

My entire collection of paintings, sculptures and collectibles was brutally destroyed. The book of Moore’s work which my friend had given me a few years earlier was also confiscated. I was released from prison in 1986 and sent to work in a factory in the capital Tirana".