Moon Head

Details

HENRY MOORE, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986)
Moon Head
signed and numbered 'Moore/4/6' (on a label attached to the underside of the base)
porcelain, on a wooden base
11 ¾ in. (28.6 cm.) high, excluding base
Conceived in 1964 and executed in an edition of 6, plus an artist's proof. This cast was executed in 1971.

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 17 March 1976, lot 150.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 21 February 1989, lot 139.
with Waddington Galleries, London where purchased by the present owner in 1989.

Literature

J. Hedgecoe (ed.), Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 466.
G. Levine, With Henry Moore, London, 1978, p. 75, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Hommage A Henry Moore, Geneva, Galerie Patrick Cramer, 1978, n.p., another cast illustrated.
D. Mitchinson (ed.), Henry Moore Sculpture, London, 1981, p. 176, pl. 376, another cast illustrated.
S. Compton, exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore, London, Royal Academy, 1988, pp. 262-263, no. 183, another cast illustrated.
A. Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings: 1964-73, Vol. 4, London, 1997, p. 39, no. 522, another cast illustrated.
D. Mitchinson (ed.), Celebrating Moore, 1998, p. 279, no. 205, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore In the Light of Greece, Andros, Museum of Contemporary Art, Bail & Elise Goulandris Foundation, 2000, p. 160, no. 33, pl. 33, another cast illustrated.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Henry Moore, September - December 1988, no. 183, another cast exhibited.
Andros, Museum of Contemporary Art, Bail & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Henry Moore In the Light of Greece, June - September 2000, no. 33, 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. On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. Where Christie’s holds such financial interest we identify such lots with the symbol º next to the lot number. 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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Lot Essay

Moon Head is a larger version of Moore’s Maquette for Head and Hand, 1962. It is comprised of a head with an open mouth on one disc and a thumb and forefinger on the other. Moore created several versions of this work which appear in a variety of materials. There is a bronze example in the Tate, London, a plaster sculpture in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and the Henry Moore Foundation retain a porcelain version in their own collection.

The artist commented on this piece: 'The white [porcelain] two-form sculpture I call ‘Moon Head’ is one of several recent Knife-Edge sculptures I’ve made which have all come about through my interest in bone forms – for example the breast bones of birds – so light, so delicate and yet so strong – But I can also think that my Knife-Edge sculptures may be unconsciously influenced by my liking for the sharp-edged Cycladic idols' (Henry Moore, letter to Lord Eccles, June 1969, reprinted in Henry Moore at the British Museum, London, 1981, p. 13).

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