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Lot Essay
Maquette for Figure on Steps is the first of a series of works executed by Moore in the mid-1950s that deal with the theme of the seated figure in an architectural environment. Along with a number of sculptures of seated women set alone or in a group against a wall or, as in this work, seated atop a number of steps, this work is part of an planned exploration on a theme that Moore executed in preparation for an important commissioned sculpture for the UNESCO building in Paris.
Although Moore had on occasion depicted the seated figure before, it only emerged as a continuous theme in his work in 1955. Moore's first idea for the UNESCO commission had been a seated figure lost in contemplation while reading a book, but this was soon rejected in favour of figures set against or in conjunction with a building as the resultant UNESCO piece would itself have to be. It was while working on these ideas that the theme of the seated woman on the steps emerged in his work. The seated figure, as opposed to the standing or reclining form represented a new challenge that Moore found was more open to the possibility of expressing psychological content. Excited by the possibilities that the seated form offered, Moore found that through this more enclosed and self-contained pose he could express the particular qualities specific to a certain mood or atmosphere in a way that had been denied him in his earlier figures. Although these newly developed ideas were ultimately rejected by Moore for the UNESCO commission on account of them being too specific, in a few works they were developed into full-scale sculptures in their own right. The present work is the first of these.
'I need to know it from on top and from underneath as well as from all sides. And so I prefer to work out my ideas in the form of small maquettes which I can hold in my hand and look at from every point of view' Henry Moore
In addition to the seated form the other new departure represented by Maquette for Figure on Steps is Moore's use of the drapery to define the contours of the human form. ‘Drapery’, Moore said, ‘can emphasize 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. Also in my mind was to connect the contrast of the sizes of 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. (The analogy, I think, comes out in close-up photographs taken of the drapery alone)’ (H. Moore quoted in J. Russell, Henry Moore, London 1968, p. 132).
In attempting to echo the 'crinkled skin of the earth' in his use of drapery, Moore's aims reflect many of his contemporaries' preoccupations with material as well as his own ongoing portrayal of woman as an archetypal 'Earth Mother'. Moore began to use the drapery in his sculpture after having explored the draped form so powerfully in his famous shelter drawings made in the London Underground during the Second World War. After his first visit to Greece in 1951, where he came across the classical use of the draped figure, it appeared more frequently in his work, receiving its fullest expression in this sculpture (on all scales) and its two sister works, Draped Seated Woman of 1957-8 and Draped Reclining Woman of 1957-8.
'I found that using drapery in sculpture was a most enjoyable exercise in itself,' Moore once observed, and in Maquette for Figure on Steps it is possible to see that the precise nature of the drapery in this sculpture was of particular concern to Moore, who used crumpled sheets of newspaper embedded in the plaster in order to achieve the exact effect he desired. This effect, somewhat akin to ploughed earth, not only deliberately refers to the earth, but also echoes the progression of the steps onto which the figure is placed. This gives the composition of the sculpture a unity and counterbalance that alongside this particular cast's magnificent green patina lends the work a pervasive sense of luminosity and rhythm that endows the whole work with a unique and profoundly organic surface.
Although Moore had on occasion depicted the seated figure before, it only emerged as a continuous theme in his work in 1955. Moore's first idea for the UNESCO commission had been a seated figure lost in contemplation while reading a book, but this was soon rejected in favour of figures set against or in conjunction with a building as the resultant UNESCO piece would itself have to be. It was while working on these ideas that the theme of the seated woman on the steps emerged in his work. The seated figure, as opposed to the standing or reclining form represented a new challenge that Moore found was more open to the possibility of expressing psychological content. Excited by the possibilities that the seated form offered, Moore found that through this more enclosed and self-contained pose he could express the particular qualities specific to a certain mood or atmosphere in a way that had been denied him in his earlier figures. Although these newly developed ideas were ultimately rejected by Moore for the UNESCO commission on account of them being too specific, in a few works they were developed into full-scale sculptures in their own right. The present work is the first of these.
'I need to know it from on top and from underneath as well as from all sides. And so I prefer to work out my ideas in the form of small maquettes which I can hold in my hand and look at from every point of view' Henry Moore
In addition to the seated form the other new departure represented by Maquette for Figure on Steps is Moore's use of the drapery to define the contours of the human form. ‘Drapery’, Moore said, ‘can emphasize 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. Also in my mind was to connect the contrast of the sizes of 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. (The analogy, I think, comes out in close-up photographs taken of the drapery alone)’ (H. Moore quoted in J. Russell, Henry Moore, London 1968, p. 132).
In attempting to echo the 'crinkled skin of the earth' in his use of drapery, Moore's aims reflect many of his contemporaries' preoccupations with material as well as his own ongoing portrayal of woman as an archetypal 'Earth Mother'. Moore began to use the drapery in his sculpture after having explored the draped form so powerfully in his famous shelter drawings made in the London Underground during the Second World War. After his first visit to Greece in 1951, where he came across the classical use of the draped figure, it appeared more frequently in his work, receiving its fullest expression in this sculpture (on all scales) and its two sister works, Draped Seated Woman of 1957-8 and Draped Reclining Woman of 1957-8.
'I found that using drapery in sculpture was a most enjoyable exercise in itself,' Moore once observed, and in Maquette for Figure on Steps it is possible to see that the precise nature of the drapery in this sculpture was of particular concern to Moore, who used crumpled sheets of newspaper embedded in the plaster in order to achieve the exact effect he desired. This effect, somewhat akin to ploughed earth, not only deliberately refers to the earth, but also echoes the progression of the steps onto which the figure is placed. This gives the composition of the sculpture a unity and counterbalance that alongside this particular cast's magnificent green patina lends the work a pervasive sense of luminosity and rhythm that endows the whole work with a unique and profoundly organic surface.