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Artwork in Focus is the second chapter of the gallery's In Focus series. Every week the gallery presents a viewing room featuring artworks available for sale. This week we are presenting two sculptures by Henry Moore. One of the sculptures, Draped Reclining Figure (1956), is included in our current exhibition Nude.
Considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century art history, Henry Moore created sculptures that were deeply grounded in both the natural landscape and his personal biography. While the large-scale sculptures remain among the most recognised works from the artist's production, this viewing room presents pieces that demonstrate how Moore's practice began with smaller scale preparatory models, formed first in terracotta and then cast in bronze. Today these bodies of work are considered to be two of the main pillars in the artist's production.
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Henry MOORE1898 - 1986Family Group, 1945Bronze
Conceived in 1945 and cast in bronze
Inscribed MOORE at the base of the benchH 12.5 x 9 x 6 cm
4 ⅞ x 3 ½ x 2 ⅜ inEd. of 7 + 1 -
Family Group belongs to an edition of seven bronze cast sculptures and one artist proof. The work was realised in 1945, produced by the Art Bronze Foundry (also known as the Gaskin Foundry) in London. This work is the model for the large-scale sculpture Family Group (1948-49) made for the Barclay School in Stevenage. The original model for this sculpture was composed in terracotta, which was used to form a mould, and was then cast in molten bronze to create the final sculpture presented here.
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In around 1934 Henry Moore began to develop an artistic interest in the different visual possibilities in representing the family unit. The specific gestures and the body language belonging to the behaviour of this group dynamic deeply intrigued Moore. His interest for portraying the nuclear family became more accentuated between 1934 and 1938, and was strengthened by the artist’s biographical events.
Before the beginning of the Second World War, the artist was commissioned to realise a sculpture for the Impington Village College. This school, located near Cambridge, was designed by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry as an environment connecting parents and children through their education, which acted as a point of reference for the local community. Due to the college’s focus on all members of the family and the philosophy of life-long education it was therefore natural that Moore’s inspiration also stemmed from this relationship, and the artist started working towards a ‘family group’ sculpture.
With the beginning of the war, the urgency of the commission subsided and a sculpture was never realised for the college. Nevertheless, Moore remained focused on the topic of the 'family group', and continued sketching and drawing ‘family groups’ throughout the war. After the end of the war, Moore had a clear idea of the figurative elements and anatomical postures he wanted to include in the preparatory maquette - realised in clay - which would later lead to the creation of the bronze cast 'family groups', and of large-scale sculptures as well - an outcome Moore himself hadn’t considered when he was working on the initial sketches.
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Henry MOORE
1898 - 1986
Draped Reclining Figure, 1956This work was conceived in 1956
Bronze, brown and gold patinaH 6.4 x 15.7 x 4.8 cm
2 ½ x 6 ⅛ x 1 ⅞ inEd. of 9 + 2 -
Throughout his career, and while experimenting with both drawing and sculpting using different materials, Moore focused on the three basic poses of the human figure: standing, sitting and lying down. Eventually, the sitting and reclining figure became Moore's preferred subjects - a choice dictated by technical necessity as a standing figure in carved stone is structurally weak at the ankles. In addition, the reclining figure resulted in more spatial and compositional freedom because it could recline on any surface while always maintaining an appearance of fluid stability. Draped Reclining Figure embodies Moore's artistic tendency of equating the features of the human body to the forms of natural landscapes. The choice of partially covering the subject is an element that anticipates a later period in the artist's production, in which Moore would produce large-scale bronzes of seated, draped women in public settings.
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Draped Reclining Figure, an edition of nine and two artist's proofs, was both conceived and realised in 1956, produced by the Fiorini Foundry in London. It is an exceptional example of how Moore was able to bring the reclining posture of the body together with the classical element of the drapery. During the Second World War, Moore observed and drew Londoners sheltering from bomb raids in the repurposed tunnels of the Underground, and it was during this period that Moore started to include drapery in his visual compositions. Moore's first visit to Greece in 1951 further developed his fascination with this compositional element, inspired by the classical sculptures and representation of draped figures. After this trip, Moore learnt how to employ drapery to give more importance, distinction and gravitas to the anatomy and physiognomy of the figures he was portraying. In 1954 he stated, "Drapery can emphasise the tension in a figure, for where the form pushes outwards ... it can be pulled tight across the form (almost like a bandage), and by contrast with the crumpled slackness of the drapery which lies between the salient points, the pressure from inside is intensified." (Quoted in Wilkinson, 2002, p.280).
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BiographyHenry Moore was born in 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire. After the First World War, Moore studied at Leeds School of Art in 1919 and the Royal College of Art in London in 1921, where he would go on to teach. Throughout the 1930s, thanks to numerous commissions and exhibitions Moore started to be considered as one of the leading avant-garde artists. After the Second World War, Moore and his wife Irina Radetsky relocated from London to Perry Green, Hertfordshire where they would live for the rest of their lives. While living in the countryside, Moore started to gradually absorb and integrate elements of the natural landscape into his practice, at times exploring the analogies with the human body. In 1977 the artist established the Henry Moore Foundation to support and encourage opportunities in the arts.The works of Henry Moore can be found in 38 countries around the world. Collections include The Tate, London (UK), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (USA) and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
Artwork in Focus: Two sculptures by Henry Moore: Family Group (1945), Draped Reclining Figure (1956)
Past viewing_room