NARRATOR:
After World War II, Henry Moore’s art became increasingly representational. A contemporary critic observed that this bronze figure of a woman from the late 1950s possesses the idealized grandeur of ancient statuary.
CRITIC [ACTOR]:
“Moore’s reclining figures are not supine; they prop themselves up, are potentially active. Hence the affinity with river-gods: the idea is not simply that of a body subjected to the flow of nature’s forces, but of one in which those forces are harnessed.”
NARRATOR:
Moore was now fascinated by the ways drapery could be used to express sculptural volume, and he closely studied figures from Greece and Rome. Delicate folds cling to the woman’s body like wet fabric, emphasizing the tensions of the underlying form pressing against them.
The reclining female preoccupied Moore throughout his long creative life.
MOORE [ACTOR]:
“I know that it is a subject for me which is unending. And I think if I had five lifetimes, I wouldn’t exhaust the possibilities in this theme.”
Draped Reclining Woman
1957-58
Henry Moore (English, 1898-1986)
On View
Henry Moore was the son of an English coal miner in Yorkshire. Entering art school at the end of his service in World War I, Moore developed under the influence of modern and ancient sculptural traditions, especially figures of pre-Columbian Mexico and African masks. His mature style emerged during the 1930s as a dynamic synthesis of abstract and surrealist dimensions. At this time, he wrote, "Beauty, in the later Greek or Renaissance sense, is not the aim in my sculpture. Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving."
Details
- Artist Name: Henry Moore (English, 1898-1986)
- Title: Draped Reclining Woman
- Date: 1957-58
- Medium: Bronze
- Edition: Edition of 7, Cast No. 0/6
- Dimensions: 55 x 87 x 45 in. (139.7 x 221.0 x 114.3 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1971.2.S
- Copyright: © The Henry Moore Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
Mrs. Henry Moore, Hoglands Perry Green, Much Hadam, Herts, England;
[Jeffrey H. Loria and Co., Inc, New York, sold 1971-11-08 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[Jeffrey H. Loria and Co., Inc, New York, sold 1971-11-08 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Henry Moore Fifteen Bronzes: From the Collections of the Norton Simon Foundation and the Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art
- New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, 1973-12-03 to 1974-10-23
- Henry Moore Fifteen Bronzes: from the Collections of the Norton Simon Foundation and the Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art,no. 11
- New Orleans Museum of Art, Annual Report 1973 New Orleans Museum of Art,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 749 p. 335
- Tancock, John, The Connoisseur,fig. 10 pp. 238-240
- Moore, Henry, Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings,no. 431 pp. 62-65
- Sculpture Garden, Norton Simon Museum,no. 20
Additional Artwork by Artist
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