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Lot Essay
Lauren Bacall visited the Forte de Belvedere exhibition in Florence in 1972 and was struck by Henry Moore’s work. Having first ‘discovered’ the artist in the 1950s in Los Angeles it was much to Bacall’s delight when she was introduced to him a few years later in 1975, by Robert Lewin of Brook Street Gallery. It was an unlikely friendship; Bacall an Oscar winning actress from New York and Moore the Yorkshire-born artist 26 years her senior, but one that Bacall treasured immensely. Bacall was to visit Moore at Hoglands on a number of occasions, during her time spent in England, often accompanied by one of her children who she was keen to introduce to her idol. None express her excitement and adoration of Moore and his artistic talents better than a letter dated 23 June 1976, from Bacall to Moore, which is now preserved in the Henry Moore archives. She wrote; 'There is no way possible to articulate my feelings after my visit to Much Hadham. It was and will be ever a high point of my life ... [it was the] realisation of my dream to actually meet you and then spend time with you. ... Some say it's dangerous to meet one's idols but in your case, and this is true, you went far beyond expectation.'
Bacall was not only a collector of the works of Henry Moore but had a propensity for all manner of artwork and artefacts accumulating a fine collection of jewellery, furniture and works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder and the late sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth, of which she sold the striking Two Forms (Domino) in these Rooms (8 June 2008, lot 162).
'The "Mother and Child" idea is one of my two or three obsessions, one of my inexhaustible subjects. This may have something to do with the fact that the "Madonna and Child" was so important in the art of the past and that one loves the old masters and has learned so much from them. But the subject itself is eternal and unending, with so many sculptural possibilities in it a small form in relation to a big form, the big form protecting the small one, and so on. It is such a rich subject, both humanly and compositionally, that I will always go on using it' (Henry Moore, quoted in A. Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 213).
One of the most fruitful and beloved of Moore’s repertoire was the Mother and Child theme, which he continued to explore throughout his career. This motif first appeared in his sculpture in 1922, while still a student at the Royal College of Art, London, (Bowness, no. 3) and displays the influence of the Mayan carvings Moore saw at the British Museum, with its totemic and angular qualities. Following in Epstein and Gaudier-Brzeska’s footsteps, Moore’s interest in the primitive carvings was to have a lasting effect on his career but it was not to define his aesthetic. Indeed one of Moore’s triumphs was his ability to return to a theme but take it in an entirely new direction. In the 1920s and 30s Moore began abstracting his forms, focusing on the expression and symbol of the mother and child, instead of anatomical realism. Although this was taken further during the war years, the role of the Mother and Child was to take on a greater significance for the artist. Working on his Shelter Drawings (1940-41) Moore was faced with the truth of humanity, capturing not only acts of terror and brutality but more importantly examples of love and protection, as people lay huddled together in the Underground Shelters, their bodies pressed against one another for comfort and reassurance. These visions of human sympathy and kindness were to stay with Moore, imbuing within his Mother and Child sculptures a tenderness that reflects the relationship one has with ones mother or child. His natural affinity to capture humanity and its complexities saw the continued success of Moore’s Mother and Child works, attracting commissions from such as the church of St Matthew, Northampton in 1943 (Bowness, no. 226), who understood the universal appeal of Moore’s work.
The Mother and Child subject became inherent to Moore’s artistic expression and goals. Within it he found a ‘universal symbol’, which like the Reclining Figure motif, withstood his manipulation of form, to stand as a universally recognised emblem of life. Through this theme Moore not only referred to the parental relationship but explored the fundamental elements of birth, life and death, whilst discussing the notions of fertility and creation. It became for Moore an icon, which could describe the essence of human existence and could strike a personal resonance with the masses. Gail Gelburd reiterates the significance of the Mother and Child theme for Moore’s artistic practice; ‘Moore continuously found new ways of exploring the theme so that the imagery could take on meaning beyond the aesthetics of its form. The development of the mother and child imagery reveals that Moore's involvement in this theme reaches beyond maternity to an inquiry into birth and creativity. The theme of the mother and child, the mother giving birth, the child struggling to emerge from the maternal womb, is like the stone giving birth to the form, the form struggling to emerge from the block of stone’ (Exhibition catalogue, Mother and Child, The Art of Henry Moore, New York, Hofstra University Museum, 1987, p. 37).
Maquette for Curved Mother and Child is a beautiful example of Moore exploration into this theme, poetically capturing the concepts of struggle and dependency that Gelburd recognised in Moore’s work. By interlocking his forms Moore grants tenderness to the work, as the mother gently cradles her child, their faces titled quietly towards one another. The rhythmic curved outline Moore deploys, which softy undulates throughout the piece, highlights the unification of the two figures, presenting them as one being. The abstraction of the lower half of the mother emphasises this, preventing one from relating to the naturalism of the figures, instead building a connection based on the expression of form. In the early stages of his career Moore’s Mother and Child pieces were clearly defined as two separate figures but since the birth of his daughter Mary in May 1946, Moore began to merge his figures, as seen here, so that they become a single form.
This sense of paternal love was renewed in 1977 with the birth of his first grandchild, from this point onwards his Mother and Child works found a regenerated sense of power and intimacy in his newly simplified forms, thereby emphasising the expression of the spirit of his figures. Moore stated the continued effect this motif was to have on him throughout his career stating, ‘From very early on I had an obsession with the mother and child theme. It has been a universal theme from the beginning of time. Some of the earliest sculptures we've found from the Neolithic Age are of a mother and child. I discovered when drawing I could turn every little scribble, blot or smudge into a Mother and Child' (Moore, quoted in H. Moore and J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 61).
Bacall was not only a collector of the works of Henry Moore but had a propensity for all manner of artwork and artefacts accumulating a fine collection of jewellery, furniture and works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder and the late sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth, of which she sold the striking Two Forms (Domino) in these Rooms (8 June 2008, lot 162).
'The "Mother and Child" idea is one of my two or three obsessions, one of my inexhaustible subjects. This may have something to do with the fact that the "Madonna and Child" was so important in the art of the past and that one loves the old masters and has learned so much from them. But the subject itself is eternal and unending, with so many sculptural possibilities in it a small form in relation to a big form, the big form protecting the small one, and so on. It is such a rich subject, both humanly and compositionally, that I will always go on using it' (Henry Moore, quoted in A. Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 213).
One of the most fruitful and beloved of Moore’s repertoire was the Mother and Child theme, which he continued to explore throughout his career. This motif first appeared in his sculpture in 1922, while still a student at the Royal College of Art, London, (Bowness, no. 3) and displays the influence of the Mayan carvings Moore saw at the British Museum, with its totemic and angular qualities. Following in Epstein and Gaudier-Brzeska’s footsteps, Moore’s interest in the primitive carvings was to have a lasting effect on his career but it was not to define his aesthetic. Indeed one of Moore’s triumphs was his ability to return to a theme but take it in an entirely new direction. In the 1920s and 30s Moore began abstracting his forms, focusing on the expression and symbol of the mother and child, instead of anatomical realism. Although this was taken further during the war years, the role of the Mother and Child was to take on a greater significance for the artist. Working on his Shelter Drawings (1940-41) Moore was faced with the truth of humanity, capturing not only acts of terror and brutality but more importantly examples of love and protection, as people lay huddled together in the Underground Shelters, their bodies pressed against one another for comfort and reassurance. These visions of human sympathy and kindness were to stay with Moore, imbuing within his Mother and Child sculptures a tenderness that reflects the relationship one has with ones mother or child. His natural affinity to capture humanity and its complexities saw the continued success of Moore’s Mother and Child works, attracting commissions from such as the church of St Matthew, Northampton in 1943 (Bowness, no. 226), who understood the universal appeal of Moore’s work.
The Mother and Child subject became inherent to Moore’s artistic expression and goals. Within it he found a ‘universal symbol’, which like the Reclining Figure motif, withstood his manipulation of form, to stand as a universally recognised emblem of life. Through this theme Moore not only referred to the parental relationship but explored the fundamental elements of birth, life and death, whilst discussing the notions of fertility and creation. It became for Moore an icon, which could describe the essence of human existence and could strike a personal resonance with the masses. Gail Gelburd reiterates the significance of the Mother and Child theme for Moore’s artistic practice; ‘Moore continuously found new ways of exploring the theme so that the imagery could take on meaning beyond the aesthetics of its form. The development of the mother and child imagery reveals that Moore's involvement in this theme reaches beyond maternity to an inquiry into birth and creativity. The theme of the mother and child, the mother giving birth, the child struggling to emerge from the maternal womb, is like the stone giving birth to the form, the form struggling to emerge from the block of stone’ (Exhibition catalogue, Mother and Child, The Art of Henry Moore, New York, Hofstra University Museum, 1987, p. 37).
Maquette for Curved Mother and Child is a beautiful example of Moore exploration into this theme, poetically capturing the concepts of struggle and dependency that Gelburd recognised in Moore’s work. By interlocking his forms Moore grants tenderness to the work, as the mother gently cradles her child, their faces titled quietly towards one another. The rhythmic curved outline Moore deploys, which softy undulates throughout the piece, highlights the unification of the two figures, presenting them as one being. The abstraction of the lower half of the mother emphasises this, preventing one from relating to the naturalism of the figures, instead building a connection based on the expression of form. In the early stages of his career Moore’s Mother and Child pieces were clearly defined as two separate figures but since the birth of his daughter Mary in May 1946, Moore began to merge his figures, as seen here, so that they become a single form.
This sense of paternal love was renewed in 1977 with the birth of his first grandchild, from this point onwards his Mother and Child works found a regenerated sense of power and intimacy in his newly simplified forms, thereby emphasising the expression of the spirit of his figures. Moore stated the continued effect this motif was to have on him throughout his career stating, ‘From very early on I had an obsession with the mother and child theme. It has been a universal theme from the beginning of time. Some of the earliest sculptures we've found from the Neolithic Age are of a mother and child. I discovered when drawing I could turn every little scribble, blot or smudge into a Mother and Child' (Moore, quoted in H. Moore and J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 61).