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Henry Moore 1898-1986 Seated Figures (recto and verso), 1950-51 Signed and dated lower right 'Moore 51', titled centre left 'Seated Figures' and inscribed upper centre 'Interior & exterior forms Heads'; inscribed verso Gouache, watercolour, brush and grey wash and white wax crayon over pencil on paper (recto); pencil on paper (verso) 11 3/8 x 9 1/4 in, 28.9 x 23.5 cm Provenance David Popper, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire (acquired by 1970) Private Collection, Canada (acquired c.1975) Sale: Christie's, New York, 9 November 2006, lot 176 (consigned by the above) Collection of Ronald P. Stanton (acquired from the above) Literature R. Melville, Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings, 1921-1969, London, 1970, pl.427, illus. p.356 A. Garrould (ed.), Henry Moore, Complete Drawings, 1950-1976, vol.4, London, 2003, p.35, illus. no.50-51.34 Moore completed this remarkable double-sided drawing in his sketchbook between 1950 and 1951. By this time Moore was celebrated as one of the most important modern sculptors in the world. Having exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1948, Moore went on to take a starring role in the Festival of Britain in 1951 and became the first living artist to be the subject of a film, produced by the BBC, in tandem with his first major retrospective at Tate. Seated Figures (recto and verso) marks a critical period of success in Moore's life as well as his skills as a nuanced draughtsman. Moore often referred to his wartime anxieties through fragile and fallen figures. On the recto of this drawing, Moore pictures a variety of seated figures with truncated forms that echo the huddled groups in the London air raid shelters and bodies of the battlefield. These drawings reveal the experimental nature of Moore's process as he studied the building of forms and constructed new sculptural concepts. On the verso of the page are two abstract forms and a sketch from the 'Helmet Head' series. Alongside these drawings, Moore has made short notes about the sculptural possibilities for the seated figures, suggesting they could be an interpretation of the iconic mother and child motif.