Henry Moore

Gallery Sakai, Tokyo

Acquired from the above in the 1990s 

Will Grohmann, The Art of Henry Moore, New York, 1960, illustration of another cast pl. 175

Herbert Read, Henry Moore, A Study of his Life and Work, London, 1965, illustration of another cast pl. 197

Ionel Jianou, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, no. 401, listed p. 81

Robert Melville, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, no. 401, listed p. 81

Giulio Carlo Argan, Henry Moore, New York, 1971, illustration of another cast pl. 127

Franco Russoli & David Mitchinson, eds., Henry Moore Sculpture with Comments by the Artist, New York, 1981, no. 292, illustration of another cast p. 141

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Sculptures and drawings, Sculpture 1955-64, London, 1983, vol. 3, no. 422, illustration of another cast pl. 53

The Art of Henry Moore, Sculpture, Drawings and Graphics, 1921-1984,(exhibition catalogue) Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, 1986, no. 53, illustration of another cast p. 21

Roger Berthoud, The Life of Henry Moore, New York, 1987, discussed p. 278

Susan Compton, Henry Moore, New York, 1988, no. 141, illustration of another cast in color pl. 53 & p. 240

Henry Moore, (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, 1989, illustration of another cast in color p. 184

Henry Moore: The Human Dimension, London, 1991, no. 79, illustration of another cast in color p. 103 (dated 1955)

Seated Figure Against Curved Wall belongs to a series of seated figures that Moore created while thinking about a suitable sculpture he was commissioned to make for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Moore was at odds with the practice of completing a sculpture for an existing building as a simple enhancement to the architecture, and thought of his sculpted figures as independent works of art that needed to be seen at all angles and not as an adornment positioned against a surface. Creating an architectural element for the sculpture itself – the curved wall, in the case of the present work – was his solution to this problem. The wall not only places the figure in a predetermined setting, it also creates an independent and private space in which the seated figure exists.

The challenge of relating a sculptural figure to its architectural surroundings continued to fascinate Moore for the remainder of the decade. He produced several sculptures which combine human and architectural forms, including the present work as well as Figure on Steps executed around the same time. Moore eventually abandoned the idea of a wall for the UNESCO building, as the figure would not have been visible from inside the building, however he developed this motif into several sculptures in their own right, including the present bronze.

The UNESCO commission presented an important challenge for Moore, and the gestation process eventually resulted in a number of independent sculptures. As Roger Berthoud wrote: "He tried draped and undraped seated female figures, mother with a standing child, figures on steps, figures reading. He was worried about the visibility of a bronze, darkened by urban pollution, against the glass windows of the main façade, so he provided some pieces with their own bronze background wall – only to realize they would thus be invisible from inside the building" (R. Berthoud, Op. cit., p. 306). Here, the positioning of the woman’s right arm resting on her knee in front of her torso may suggest Moore’s idea of presenting a figure reading a book, which he considered as one of the appropriate motifs for this commission given its emphasis on education. The combination of the organic shape of the female form and the rhythmic horizontal lines of the wall makes this a wonderfully dynamic work.

Several casts of this work are in public collections, including the Arts Council of Great Britain in London, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and National Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide.