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Lot Essay
Against the backdrop of the Second World War, at a time when Britain’s fortunes seemed at their lowest, Moore made significant advances in the technique and content of his art. With the evacuation of the Chelsea School of Art in 1939, Moore’s teaching career was terminated. He enrolled at the Chelsea Polytechnic, in a precision tool-making course, to aid the drive for munitions. Wartime restrictions on materials, together with the uncertainty of future plans put Moore’s sculptural output on hold and he focused solely on drawing.
Seated Figures, 1940, is one of the works on paper when Moore first began to use his now famed method of wax crayon against watercolour, a technique he discovered by chance while entertaining his niece in the late 1930s. He noted that through the resistance of the wax crayon he could apply watercolour, which granted a more sculptural effect to his forms. He would take out any excess of crayon with a knife, in an almost sculptural manner, and then define their contours with black India ink. For Moore the light and shadows on the figures in his drawings was important and we can see that in Seated Figures where he has used a wide range of washes for the background and coloured crayons to enhance particular crevices.
In his book Robert Melville praises Moore’s output as a draughtsman in the late 30s and early 40s: ‘These drawings of sculpture in imaginary situations are in a sense marginal to the sheets of ideas for sculpture, but they make a notable contribution to English graphic art ... They are kind of inspired day-dreaming and have some of the fascination of a private journal’ (R. Melville, Henry Moore, Sculpture and drawings 1921-1969, London, 1970, p. 13).
In Seated Figures we see formal compositions of themes central to Moore’s oeuvre: variations of seated figures and mothers with children. While some of the compositions are intimately connected to sculptures from the period, the work’s primary importance lies within its pictorial illusionism. It assumes a particular significance, separate from the sculptures as a means to an end in itself.
The present work was previously owned by Dr Henry Roland, one of the partners of the greatly respected firm of London art dealers Roland, Browse and Delbanco. He, along with Gustav Delbanco, joined forces with Lilian Browse in March 1945 to form an impressive triumvirate. Roland was supporter of many British artists of the day including Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and Graham Sutherland. Roland’s private collection reflected his particular interests, and contained superb examples of sculpture by artists including Moore, Maillol and Rodin.
Seated Figures, 1940, is one of the works on paper when Moore first began to use his now famed method of wax crayon against watercolour, a technique he discovered by chance while entertaining his niece in the late 1930s. He noted that through the resistance of the wax crayon he could apply watercolour, which granted a more sculptural effect to his forms. He would take out any excess of crayon with a knife, in an almost sculptural manner, and then define their contours with black India ink. For Moore the light and shadows on the figures in his drawings was important and we can see that in Seated Figures where he has used a wide range of washes for the background and coloured crayons to enhance particular crevices.
In his book Robert Melville praises Moore’s output as a draughtsman in the late 30s and early 40s: ‘These drawings of sculpture in imaginary situations are in a sense marginal to the sheets of ideas for sculpture, but they make a notable contribution to English graphic art ... They are kind of inspired day-dreaming and have some of the fascination of a private journal’ (R. Melville, Henry Moore, Sculpture and drawings 1921-1969, London, 1970, p. 13).
In Seated Figures we see formal compositions of themes central to Moore’s oeuvre: variations of seated figures and mothers with children. While some of the compositions are intimately connected to sculptures from the period, the work’s primary importance lies within its pictorial illusionism. It assumes a particular significance, separate from the sculptures as a means to an end in itself.
The present work was previously owned by Dr Henry Roland, one of the partners of the greatly respected firm of London art dealers Roland, Browse and Delbanco. He, along with Gustav Delbanco, joined forces with Lilian Browse in March 1945 to form an impressive triumvirate. Roland was supporter of many British artists of the day including Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and Graham Sutherland. Roland’s private collection reflected his particular interests, and contained superb examples of sculpture by artists including Moore, Maillol and Rodin.