.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
In Reclining Figures: Ideas for Stone Sculpture, 1944, Moore presents the viewer with six finely constructed biomorphic forms depicting views of a sculpture presented in a subterranean setting, redolent of his wartime drawings of Londoners sheltering during the Blitz. Moore's drawings do not serve as mere sketches or as a sculptor's working drawings but stand alone as an important catalogue of the artist's output during his long career. Moore stated that his drawings were executed as a 'means of generating ideas for sculpture, tapping oneself for the initial idea; and as a way of sorting out ideas and developing them' (H. Moore, 'The Sculptor Speaks', The Listener, 18 August 1937 quoted in D. Sylvester (ed.), Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings, 1921-1948, Vol. 1, London, 1957, p. xxxv).
During the Second World War, Moore was inspired to create a series of drawings after seeing Londoners seeking refuge from the bombs of the Blitz by sheltering together in the stations and tunnels of the London Underground network. The resulting images, known as the Shelter Drawings, several of which were acquired at the time for the nation and also by the Tate Gallery, are unique explorations of the human spirit in a situation of adversity. Moore concentrated on filling sketch books with images from memory of his time observing in the Underground network, which he later worked up into fully realised drawings in his studio at Perry Green. He commented on this important period in the development of his life as an artist: ‘Without the war, which directed one’s direction to life itself, I think I would have been a far less sensitive and responsible person – if I had ignored all that and went on working just as before. The war brought out and encouraged the humanist side in one’s work’ (H. Moore quoted in exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore Drawings, London, Tate Gallery, 1977, p. 36).
'One of Moore’s greatest contributions to the language of twentieth century sculpture has been the use of the human figure as metaphor for landscape.' Alan Wilkinson
In the present work, Moore's six ideas for sculpture are isolated in a subterranean and almost catacomb-inspired setting, recalling the 'mysterious fascination' which 'caves in hillsides and cliffs' held for the artist (H. Moore quoted in D. Sylvester, op. cit., p. xxxiv). Indeed, this interest in the underground was inspired not just from his Shelter Drawings but also from the Coalmining Drawings, executed at Wheldale Colliery in Yorkshire (where his father had been a miner) and completed over a six-month period in 1942 for the War Artists' Advisory Committee. In Reclining Figures: Ideas for Stone Sculpture, the figures are presented as an elemental part of their surrounding environment which encloses and protects them from the outside world. This integration suggests an analogy between his sculpture and organic matter and reflects the inspiration he derived from natural objects such as rocks, bones, trees, and plants. Moore's sophisticated use of colour in Reclining Figures: Ideas for Stone Sculpture, particularly the mossy greens and earthy yellows, also points to an aesthetic based on nature. Indeed, the very year this drawing was executed, the poet and writer Geoffrey Grigson, commentated on the artist's 'appetite for the colours of nature, the lichen on the grey rock, the coloured textured of weather-worn stone' (G. Grigson, Henry Moore, London, 1944, pp. 15-16). The natural world is further alluded to in the present work through Moore's use of a wide variety of media which gives the drawing a rich surface texture. The application of a wash over wax crayons gives a particularly organic and tactile quality to the drawing and results in a powerful image from a highly important period of the artist's work in this medium.
During the Second World War, Moore was inspired to create a series of drawings after seeing Londoners seeking refuge from the bombs of the Blitz by sheltering together in the stations and tunnels of the London Underground network. The resulting images, known as the Shelter Drawings, several of which were acquired at the time for the nation and also by the Tate Gallery, are unique explorations of the human spirit in a situation of adversity. Moore concentrated on filling sketch books with images from memory of his time observing in the Underground network, which he later worked up into fully realised drawings in his studio at Perry Green. He commented on this important period in the development of his life as an artist: ‘Without the war, which directed one’s direction to life itself, I think I would have been a far less sensitive and responsible person – if I had ignored all that and went on working just as before. The war brought out and encouraged the humanist side in one’s work’ (H. Moore quoted in exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore Drawings, London, Tate Gallery, 1977, p. 36).
'One of Moore’s greatest contributions to the language of twentieth century sculpture has been the use of the human figure as metaphor for landscape.' Alan Wilkinson
In the present work, Moore's six ideas for sculpture are isolated in a subterranean and almost catacomb-inspired setting, recalling the 'mysterious fascination' which 'caves in hillsides and cliffs' held for the artist (H. Moore quoted in D. Sylvester, op. cit., p. xxxiv). Indeed, this interest in the underground was inspired not just from his Shelter Drawings but also from the Coalmining Drawings, executed at Wheldale Colliery in Yorkshire (where his father had been a miner) and completed over a six-month period in 1942 for the War Artists' Advisory Committee. In Reclining Figures: Ideas for Stone Sculpture, the figures are presented as an elemental part of their surrounding environment which encloses and protects them from the outside world. This integration suggests an analogy between his sculpture and organic matter and reflects the inspiration he derived from natural objects such as rocks, bones, trees, and plants. Moore's sophisticated use of colour in Reclining Figures: Ideas for Stone Sculpture, particularly the mossy greens and earthy yellows, also points to an aesthetic based on nature. Indeed, the very year this drawing was executed, the poet and writer Geoffrey Grigson, commentated on the artist's 'appetite for the colours of nature, the lichen on the grey rock, the coloured textured of weather-worn stone' (G. Grigson, Henry Moore, London, 1944, pp. 15-16). The natural world is further alluded to in the present work through Moore's use of a wide variety of media which gives the drawing a rich surface texture. The application of a wash over wax crayons gives a particularly organic and tactile quality to the drawing and results in a powerful image from a highly important period of the artist's work in this medium.