Draped Seated Figure against Curved Wall

Details

Henry Moore, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986)
Draped Seated Figure against Curved Wall
bronze with a brown patina
13 ¾ in (34.9 cm.) wide
Conceived in 1956-57 and cast in an edition of 12.

Provenance

Private Collection, USA.
Their sale; Christie's, London, 21 June 1993, lot 45.
with Waddington Galleries, London.
Private Collection, USA.
with Waddington Galleries, London, where purchased by the present owner, April 2006.

Literature

W. Grohmann, The Art of Henry Moore, London, 1960, pl. 176, plaster illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: an Exhibition of Sculpture from 1950–1960, London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1960, no. 53, another cast illustrated.
I. Jianou, Henry Moore, Arted, Editions d'Art, Paris, 1968, no. 404, another cast.
J. Hedgecoe and H. Moore, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 288, plaster illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore, London, Tate Gallery, 1968, p. 117, pl. 105, no. 100, plaster illustrated.
R. Melville, Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings 1921–1969, London, 1970, no. 524, plaster illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore 80/80, London, Thomas Gibson Fine Art, 1978, p. 28, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Works on Paper and Sculpture, London, Waddington Galleries, 1993, p. 61, no. 28, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: Sculpture from the 40s and 50s, London, Waddington Galleries, 1995, pp. 38-39, no. 17, illustrated.
A. Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore: Complete Sculpture 1955–64, Vol. 3, London, 2005, no. 423, pp. 32-33, another cast illustrated, pl. 50c, plaster illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: Sculpture & Drawings, London, Waddington Galleries, 2006, another cast.

Exhibited

London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Henry Moore: an exhibition of sculpture from 1950–1960, November - December 1960, no. 53, another cast exhibited.
London, Tate Gallery, Henry Moore, July - September 1968, no. 100, another cast exhibited.
London, Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Henry Moore 80/80, 1978, another cast exhibited.
London, Waddington Galleries, Works on Paper and Sculpture, September - October 1993, no. 28.
London, Waddington Galleries, Henry Moore: Sculpture from the 40s and 50s, May - June 1995, no. 17.
London, Waddington Galleries, Henry Moore: Sculpture & Drawings, September 2006, another cast exhibited.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Louise Simpson

lsimpson@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2681

Lot Essay

The present work is from a series of sculptures in which Moore explored the relationship of a seated figure to its surroundings, and which include the presence of a curved wall, or bench on which a figure sits or reclines. This concept ultimately resulted in the large scale sculpture, UNESCO Reclining Figure, 1957-68, carved in Travertine marble, and commissioned for the forecourt of the new UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The problem of having to position his sculpture in front of a large building which might detract from its impact on the viewer, led the artist to explore the idea of positioning the figure in front of its own wall within the composition. Moore eventually left the UNESCO commission without this backdrop, but it became a device that he explored in his sculpture throughout the 1950s (see H. Read, Introduction, A. Bowness, op. cit., p. 6).

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