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Lot Essay
The present bronze is a Maquette for Draped Reclining Woman, a monumentally scaled sculpture which Henry Moore conceived at the height of his career. It is one of Moore's most exceptional studies of the female form and an important development in his exploration of the sculptural effects of drapery on the figure.
Moore's preference for the recumbent human form was founded on the belief that he could express the particular qualities specific to a certain mood or atmosphere in a way that was denied in other poses. It was also the position that allowed him the most freedom compositionally and spatially, offering him enough variation to last him a lifetime.
Drawing on his observation of carved Greek drapery and what he had learnt from his study of figures in the underground, Moore has used the effects of creased cloth to its full effect in this sculpture. 'Drapery', Moore explained, 'played a very important part in the shelter drawings I made in 1940 and 1941 and what I began to learn then about its function as form gave me the intention, sometime or other, to use drapery in sculpture in a more realistic way than I had ever tried to use it in my carved sculpture. And my first visit to Greece in 1951 perhaps helped to strengthen this intention... Drapery can emphasise the tension in a figure, for where the form pushes outwards, such as on the shoulders, the thighs, the breasts, etc., 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. Drapery can also, by its direction over the form, make more obvious the section, that is, show shape. It need not be just a decorative addition, but can serve to stress the sculptural idea of the figure. Also in my mind was to connect the contrast of the size of the folds, here small, fine and delicate, in other places big and heavy, with the form of mountains, which are the crinkled skin of the earth. Although static, this figure is not meant to be in slack repose, but, as it were, alerted’ (H. Moore cited in, J. Russell, Henry Moore, London 1968, p. 132).
Moore's preference for the recumbent human form was founded on the belief that he could express the particular qualities specific to a certain mood or atmosphere in a way that was denied in other poses. It was also the position that allowed him the most freedom compositionally and spatially, offering him enough variation to last him a lifetime.
Drawing on his observation of carved Greek drapery and what he had learnt from his study of figures in the underground, Moore has used the effects of creased cloth to its full effect in this sculpture. 'Drapery', Moore explained, 'played a very important part in the shelter drawings I made in 1940 and 1941 and what I began to learn then about its function as form gave me the intention, sometime or other, to use drapery in sculpture in a more realistic way than I had ever tried to use it in my carved sculpture. And my first visit to Greece in 1951 perhaps helped to strengthen this intention... Drapery can emphasise the tension in a figure, for where the form pushes outwards, such as on the shoulders, the thighs, the breasts, etc., 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. Drapery can also, by its direction over the form, make more obvious the section, that is, show shape. It need not be just a decorative addition, but can serve to stress the sculptural idea of the figure. Also in my mind was to connect the contrast of the size of the folds, here small, fine and delicate, in other places big and heavy, with the form of mountains, which are the crinkled skin of the earth. Although static, this figure is not meant to be in slack repose, but, as it were, alerted’ (H. Moore cited in, J. Russell, Henry Moore, London 1968, p. 132).