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Lot Essay
‘I want to be quite free of having to find a ‘reason’ for doing the Reclining Figures, and freer still of having to find a ‘meaning’ for them. The vital thing for an artist is to have a subject that allows [you] to try out all kinds of formal ideas ... in my case the reclining figure provides chances of that sort. The subject matter is given. It's settled for you, and you know it and like it, so that within it, within the subject that you've done a dozen times before, you are free to invent a completely new form-idea’ (H. Moore quoted in J. Russell, Henry Moore, London, 1968, p. 28).
In Reclining Figure, Moore contrasts the solid bronze form with the empty space in the hollow upper torso and sweeping curvilinear loop of the figure’s legs. The remarkable interplay of three-dimensional form and empty space is produced by meandering and undulating lines that create a paradox of tension and harmony. Compositionally it closely relates to Moore’s pre-war masterpiece Recumbent Figure, 1938 (Tate, London), a maquette for which was sold in these Rooms, 26 June 2015, lot 198 for £296,500. Dr Christa Lichtenstern observes, ‘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’ (C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore, Work, Theory, Impact, London, 2008, p. 95).
Dr Herbert Kayden’s collection notes, dated 19 February 2002, mention that both he and his wife’s interest in Moore’s works dates back to the earliest years of their marriage. Reclining Figure was the first sculpture acquired by the couple. Dr Gabrielle Reem purchased the sculpture in 1954 from the New York dealer Curt Valentin as a birthday present for her husband. Subsequently, according to Dr Kayden, the pair had an 'insatiable desire for sculpture', especially for works by Moore. (Please also see lot 150).
Reclining Figure was conceived in 1938 and two lead casts were made at that time. The present lot belongs to a bronze edition which was cast shortly after the Second World War. In a letter from 1970 Moore recalled that he thought this edition to be no more than 6. Moore authorised a second edition to be cast in 1968/9 by the Noack foundry in Berlin, which was numbered out of 7.
In Reclining Figure, Moore contrasts the solid bronze form with the empty space in the hollow upper torso and sweeping curvilinear loop of the figure’s legs. The remarkable interplay of three-dimensional form and empty space is produced by meandering and undulating lines that create a paradox of tension and harmony. Compositionally it closely relates to Moore’s pre-war masterpiece Recumbent Figure, 1938 (Tate, London), a maquette for which was sold in these Rooms, 26 June 2015, lot 198 for £296,500. Dr Christa Lichtenstern observes, ‘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’ (C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore, Work, Theory, Impact, London, 2008, p. 95).
Dr Herbert Kayden’s collection notes, dated 19 February 2002, mention that both he and his wife’s interest in Moore’s works dates back to the earliest years of their marriage. Reclining Figure was the first sculpture acquired by the couple. Dr Gabrielle Reem purchased the sculpture in 1954 from the New York dealer Curt Valentin as a birthday present for her husband. Subsequently, according to Dr Kayden, the pair had an 'insatiable desire for sculpture', especially for works by Moore. (Please also see lot 150).
Reclining Figure was conceived in 1938 and two lead casts were made at that time. The present lot belongs to a bronze edition which was cast shortly after the Second World War. In a letter from 1970 Moore recalled that he thought this edition to be no more than 6. Moore authorised a second edition to be cast in 1968/9 by the Noack foundry in Berlin, which was numbered out of 7.