Henry Moore 1898-1986
Reclining figures, 1943
Signed and dated lower left 'Moore 43' and with various
inscriptions by the artist
Pencil, charcoal, wax crayons, pen and ink and wash on paper
17 3/4 x 25 1/4 in, 45.2 x 64.1 cm
Provenance
Paula Zurcher, Chicago
(acquired before 1950 and thence by descent)
Private Collection, USA
Exhibitions
Stanford, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Centre for Visual Arts,
Stanford University, on loan, March 2000
Literature
Ann Garrould (ed.), Henry Moore, Complete Drawings,1940-49,
vol.III, The Henry Moore Foundation/ Lund Humphries,
London, 2001, no.AG 43.107 HMF 2156, illus. p.196
Created at the height of the Second World War, Henry Moore's Reclining
figures appear in a dark, subterranean landscape that relates closely to the
Shelter drawings. Much like the figures huddled together in the Underground,
each sinewy body in this image is cocooned in a womb-like space, which
protects and guards them. Moore returned to this motif of the reclining
figure throughout the Second World War in a series of drawings that would
become the basis of some of his most celebrated sculptural work.
In Reclining Figures Moore records ideas for materials that could be used for
future sculptures, with inscriptions including 'Tense bone-like form (wood)',
'Flats + swellings (wood)' and 'Square wide through – forced projections &
recessions (stone)'. Moore was fascinated with such organic matter as shells,
bones and driftwood, which he collected in his studio at Perry Green and
used as inspiration for the natural forms of his abstract bodies.
