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Henry Moore 1898-1986 Shelter Drawing: Underground Study, 1940 Signed and dated lower right 'Moore 40' Gouache, brush and grey wash, coloured wax crayons, pen and black ink over pencil on paper 4 7/8 x 7 in, 12.3 x 17.7 cm Provenance Mrs. Andrew Carnduff Ritchie, Connecticut (until at least 1973) Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., New York Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson (acquired in 1974) Exhibitions Stanford, Stanford University Museum of Art, T wentieth-Century Drawings from the Anderson Collection: Auguste Rodin to Elizabeth Murray, November 1988 - February 1989, illus. p.7 and 29, no.14 San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Celebrating Modern Art: The Anderson Collection, October 2000 - January 2001, illus. p.375-376, no.186 (with incorrect medium) Literature A. Garrould, ed., Henry Moore: Complete Drawings, 1940-1949, Aldershot, 2001, vol.3, p.79, no.AG 40.86, illus. During the Blitz, Moore filled a number of now seminal sketchbooks with the figures he witnessed sheltering in the tunnels of the London Underground. In contrast to images made by artists in the trenches of the First World War, this series focused upon the Homefront and the terrifying siege by the Luftwaffe. Shelter Drawing: Underground Study from 1940 is one of these haunting yet iconic images that propelled Moore's reputation, and brought him fame both at home and internationally. Moore was fascinated by the vulnerable crowds lying on the platforms and frequently returned to the shelters, sketching the figures he saw in a variety of media over several months. Moore recalled witnessing the scene for the first time 'I had never seen so many reclining figures, and even the train tunnels seemed to be like holes in my sculpture. Amid the grim tension, I noticed groups of strangers formed together into intimate groups and children asleep within feet of the passing trains.' When Moore showed these astonishing drawings to the chairman of the War Artists' Advisory Committee, Sir Kenneth Clark, they were quickly recognised for their importance as a symbol of the endurance of the British public. Clark appointed Moore an official war artist and commissioned further drawings between the autumn of 1940 and spring of 1941. These sketchbooks are now considered some of the most important output of the WAAC and mark a short, but crucial moment in Moore's oeuvre.