HENRY MOORE, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986)

In Moore’s reclining figures, the artist developed a radically unique formal language, oscillating between figuration and abstraction. As Moore explained, ‘the vital thing for an artist is to have a subject that allows (him) to try out all kinds of formal ideas – things that he doesn’t yet know about for certain but wants to experiment with’ and the subject of the reclining figure provided such circumstances for Moore (the artist quoted in C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work-Theory-Impact, London, 2008, p. 95). Maquette for Reclining Figure’s intimate scale enables viewers to closely engage with its tactile qualities. This interaction between the work and viewer affirms Moore’s fundamental belief in the importance of sculpture as a three-dimensional experience.

The undulating limbs and rounded edges of the present work recall the formal qualities of a landscape, and lay bare Moore’s interest in the possibilities of reducing the human form to essential elements. The body as a landscape was a favoured metaphor by Moore, who treated sculpture as a ‘mixture of the human figure and landscape’ (R. Cardinal, exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: In the Light of Greece, Athens, Basil & Elisa Goulandris Foundation, 2000, p. 47).

In his treatment of sculpture, Moore sought to create an innovative sculptural language, one that retained links to ‘archaic and primitive forms of art’, but that would simultaneously forge ‘a new aesthetic perception and fit into the modern formal typology of his own century’ (R. Cardinal, exhibition catalogue, Henry Moore: In the Light of Greece, Athens, Basil & Elisa Goulandris Foundation, 2000, p. 11).