- 31
Henry Moore
Estimate
1,200,000 - 1,800,000 GBP
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Description
- Henry Moore
- WORKING MODEL FOR RECLINING WOMAN: ELBOW
- inscribed Moore, numbered 5/9 and inscribed with the foundry mark Morris Singer Founders London
- bronze
- length (excluding base): 86.5cm.
- 34in.
Provenance
Lillian Heidenberg Gallery, New York (acquired from the artist)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1983
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1983
Literature
Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, London, 1988, vol. 6, no. 809, illustrations of another cast p. 39, pls. 57-58
Catalogue Note
Dealing with Henry Moore’s most celebrated subject, the present work was executed in preparation for the monumental bronze Reclining Woman: Elbow of the same year (A. Bowness (ed.), op. cit., no. 810). This monumental bronze (221cm. long) was one of Moore’s last large-scale reclining figures, which the artist personally selected for display at the entrance to the Moore Sculpture Gallery extension to the City Art Gallery in Leeds (fig. 1). The extension was opened in 1982, inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II, and attended by the artist himself.
Discussing the present composition, the authors of Henry Moore: The Human Dimension have observed: ‘It is striking that in several of his later bronzes Moore sought smoother, shinier surfaces than earlier, when even untextured surfaces were usually kept dark and inert. […] Such shiny surfaces bring a sensation of swiftness. The eye glides over them, quickly assimilating curves and angles, so that the whole piece takes on qualities of motion though the subject or pose may speak only of stillness’ (Henry Moore: The Human Dimension (exhibition catalogue), Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, 1991, p. 133).
The subject of the reclining figure is probably the single most iconic image of Henry Moore’s œuvre. Initially inspired by Mexican sculpture, this theme recurs throughout the artist’s career, ranging from organic forms to near-abstract, geometric ones. Christa Lichtenstern wrote about Moore’s continuous treatment of this motif, which he called an ‘absolute obsession’: ‘The reclining figure […] formed a kind of vessel into which Moore poured his most important poetic, compositional, formal and spatial discoveries. The farthest-reaching developments in his art are thus reflected in such figures. In the early period, they demonstrated his belief in the doctrine of direct carving. Later, they embodied his espousal of the surrealist emotionalisation of figure and space. And finally, they became a focus for the analogies between figure and landscape […]. One further innovation explored in the context of this basic theme was the artist’s discovery of rhythm as a constituent force in the generation of form’ (C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work – Theory – Impact, London, 2008, p. 95).
Discussing the present composition, the authors of Henry Moore: The Human Dimension have observed: ‘It is striking that in several of his later bronzes Moore sought smoother, shinier surfaces than earlier, when even untextured surfaces were usually kept dark and inert. […] Such shiny surfaces bring a sensation of swiftness. The eye glides over them, quickly assimilating curves and angles, so that the whole piece takes on qualities of motion though the subject or pose may speak only of stillness’ (Henry Moore: The Human Dimension (exhibition catalogue), Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, 1991, p. 133).
The subject of the reclining figure is probably the single most iconic image of Henry Moore’s œuvre. Initially inspired by Mexican sculpture, this theme recurs throughout the artist’s career, ranging from organic forms to near-abstract, geometric ones. Christa Lichtenstern wrote about Moore’s continuous treatment of this motif, which he called an ‘absolute obsession’: ‘The reclining figure […] formed a kind of vessel into which Moore poured his most important poetic, compositional, formal and spatial discoveries. The farthest-reaching developments in his art are thus reflected in such figures. In the early period, they demonstrated his belief in the doctrine of direct carving. Later, they embodied his espousal of the surrealist emotionalisation of figure and space. And finally, they became a focus for the analogies between figure and landscape […]. One further innovation explored in the context of this basic theme was the artist’s discovery of rhythm as a constituent force in the generation of form’ (C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work – Theory – Impact, London, 2008, p. 95).