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Lot Essay
‘Sculpture should always at first sight have some obscurities, and further meanings. People should want to go on looking and thinking; it should never tell all about itself immediately … In fact all art should have some more mystery and meaning to it than is apparent to a quick observer’
– Henry Moore
Conceived and cast in 1966, Henry Moore’s Two Piece Sculpture No. 7: Pipe is the seventh work in the landmark series of Two Piece figures that the sculptor had begun in 1959. With this group of works, Moore took the radical step of dividing the form of the reclining figure into two separate parts. In so doing, he opened up the aesthetic potential of this motif, expanding the range of visual allusions that these forms engendered, as well as pioneering a new approach to modern sculpture by integrating empty space into the composition itself. The two pieces, both angular and organic and cast in smooth, reflective polished bronze, work in dialogue with one another, the protrusions and depressions creating fascinating dynamics of space, balance and volume between these forms. As Moore wrote of this work, ‘I call this sculpture Two-piece: Pipe. It is an attempt to make a sculpture which is varied in all its views and forms. One piece is very different from the other, and by combining the two I obtain many permutations and combinations. By adding two pieces together the differences are not simply doubled. As in mathematics, they are geometrically multiplied, producing an infinite variety of viewpoints’ (H. Moore, quoted in H. Moore & J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 501).
The highly polished finish of the present work is particularly notable, calling to mind the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi whom Moore had admired for his ability to rid sculpture of all ‘surface excrescences’ (H. Moore, quoted in A. Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore, Writings and Conversations, Aldershot, 2002, p. 145). Two Piece Sculpture No. 7: Pipe was cast in bronze in a numbered edition of nine. Other bronze casts are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, London and The Whitworth Gallery at the University of Manchester. The original plaster from which the bronzes were cast is in the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
– Henry Moore
Conceived and cast in 1966, Henry Moore’s Two Piece Sculpture No. 7: Pipe is the seventh work in the landmark series of Two Piece figures that the sculptor had begun in 1959. With this group of works, Moore took the radical step of dividing the form of the reclining figure into two separate parts. In so doing, he opened up the aesthetic potential of this motif, expanding the range of visual allusions that these forms engendered, as well as pioneering a new approach to modern sculpture by integrating empty space into the composition itself. The two pieces, both angular and organic and cast in smooth, reflective polished bronze, work in dialogue with one another, the protrusions and depressions creating fascinating dynamics of space, balance and volume between these forms. As Moore wrote of this work, ‘I call this sculpture Two-piece: Pipe. It is an attempt to make a sculpture which is varied in all its views and forms. One piece is very different from the other, and by combining the two I obtain many permutations and combinations. By adding two pieces together the differences are not simply doubled. As in mathematics, they are geometrically multiplied, producing an infinite variety of viewpoints’ (H. Moore, quoted in H. Moore & J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 501).
The highly polished finish of the present work is particularly notable, calling to mind the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi whom Moore had admired for his ability to rid sculpture of all ‘surface excrescences’ (H. Moore, quoted in A. Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore, Writings and Conversations, Aldershot, 2002, p. 145). Two Piece Sculpture No. 7: Pipe was cast in bronze in a numbered edition of nine. Other bronze casts are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, London and The Whitworth Gallery at the University of Manchester. The original plaster from which the bronzes were cast is in the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.