Moore, Henry (1898-1986), Working Model for Two... Lot n° 36

Henry Moore (1898-1986). Working model for Two Piece Reclining Figure: Armless (1975). Edition of 9 +1 Signed and numbered on the base 2/9 LH685 Casts: Henry Moore Foundation, cast 0 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto cast 1 Bronze Provenance: Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler, United Kingdom (purchased directly from the artist in September 1976); Fisher Fine Art, London; Sotheby’s, 23rd June 2003, Lot 3. Where acquired by the present owner.  Exhibited:  2015 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Henry Moore: Back to a Land, cast 0/9 Literature: A. Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Sculpture and drawings, vol. V, Sculpture 1974-80, London, 1983, no. 685, p. 26 (another cast illustrated p. 27). Property of a Distinguished Gentleman of Title. Dimensions:  Length: 24 in. (61 cm.) Conceived in 1975, Two Piece Reclining Figure: Armless offers an exploration of one of Henry Moore’s favourite themes – the sculptural potentialities of the fragmented, abstracted female form. The sinuous curves of the reclining figure were a central theme in Moore’s oeuvre; a continual source of experimentation and exploration which offered him a freedom to play with space, line, and holes in his sculptures. In the present work, Moore divides the figure into two distinct forms working in complete harmony. The space between them gives power to the negative and positive forms. The present work is a working model for the monumental sculpture of the same title, carved in black granite in 1977 (A Bowness (ed.), Op. cit, no. 686). In this bronze, Moore returns to the theme of the two-piece reclining figure, the subject of the series of rough-textured sculptures he executed between 1959 and 1965.