Seated Woman with Crossed Feet

Details

HENRY MOORE, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986)
Seated Woman with Crossed Feet
signed and numbered 'Moore/3/6' (on the reverse of the bench)
bronze with a dark brown patina, on a black-painted wooden base
9 ½ in. (24.1 cm.) wide, excluding base
Conceived in 1957 and cast in 1965.

Provenance

with New Art Centre, London, where purchased by the present owners in May 1990.

Literature

I. Jianou, Henry Moore, Paris, 1968, p. 82, no. 412.
R. Melville, Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings 1921-1969, London, 1970, p. 360, no. 554, another cast illustrated.
D. Mitchinson (ed.), Henry Moore Sculpture, London, 1981, p. 140, pl. 287, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: Rétrospective, Saint Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght, 2002, pp. 172, 250, no. 141, another cast illustrated.
A. Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture: 1955-64, Vol. 3, London, 2005, p. 35, no. 432, another cast illustrated.

Exhibited

Saint Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght, Henry Moore: Rétrospective, July - November 2002, no. 141, 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. Cancellation under the EU Consumer Rights Directive may apply to this lot. Please see here for further information. This lot has been imported 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.

Conditions of sale

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Pippa Jacomb Head of Day Sale

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Lot Essay

In 1956-57, Moore was developing ideas for the Paris UNESCO building commission. In his monograph on Moore from 1960, Will Grohmann writes eloquently on the combination of classical serenity and timeless strength projected by many of Moore’s seated figures from this period, as well as their suitability for display in public places:

‘Repose as waiting and respose as the springboard for movement, sitting as an expression of composure, as in the case of the archaic Greek goddesses, and sitting as an expressions of the moment before rising, jumping up, going into action – this is the human aspect. Like the 'Reclining Figure' outside the 'Time and Life' building, the relaxed figures tend towards the classical […] But whereas the classical figures of that period have a touch of the Maidens from the Acropolis, of the Greek Korai, the 'Seated Figures' belong to our own day and age; they are superior, modern beings, guardians of a university, a museum or a public square’ (W. Grohmann, The Art of Henry Moore, London, 1960, p. 229).

For additional information about the Foundation Mireille and James Lévy, please see the introduction to lot 176.

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