Maquette for Draped Reclining Woman

Details

Henry Moore, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986)
Maquette for Draped Reclining Woman
bronze with a brown patina
8 in. (20.3 cm.) long
Conceived in 1956 and cast between 1956 and 1959 in an edition of 9, plus an artist's cast.

Provenance

Purchased by the present owner's mother in the 1960s, and by descent.

Literature

I. Jianou, Henry Moore, Paris, 1968, p. 81, no. 400.
A. Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings 1955-64, vol. 3, London, 1986, p. 34, no. 429, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Sculpture, London, Waddington Galleries, 1992, n.p., no. 26, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore, London, Waddington Galleries, 1992, n.p., no. 24, another cast illustrated.
J. Hedgecoe, A Monumental Vision: The Sculpture of Henry Moore, London, 1998, pp. 222-223, no. 392, another cast illustrated.

Exhibited

Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, Henry Moore in Southern California, October - November 1973, no. 39, another cast exhibited.
Santa Barbara, University of California Art Galleries, Sculpture of the 50s, January - February 1976, another cast exhibited, catalogue not traced.
London, Waddington Galleries, Sculpture, April - May 1992, no. 26, another cast exhibited.
London, Waddington Galleries, Henry Moore, June - July 1992, no. 24, 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. These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Brought to you by

Angus Granlund

agranlund@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3240

Lot Essay

The present bronze is a Maquette for Draped Reclining Woman (1957-58) a monumental 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 quoted in, J. Russell, Henry Moore, London, 1968, p. 132).

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