Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1110745
Henry Moore 1898-1986 Standing Figure No. 1, 1952 Inscribed on base 'Moore' Bronze. Edition of 9. 9 7/8 x 2 x 2 1/2 in, 25.1 x 5 x 6.3 cm Provenance Waddington Galleries, London Private Collection Neuchatel, Switzerland (purchased from the above 25 April 1983, invoice no.04874) Literature Lionel Jianou, 'Henry Moore', Paris 1968, no.297 (not catalogued) Robert Melville, 'Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings 1921 - 1969', London, 1970, no.437 illus. Russoli, Franco and David Mitchinson, 'Henry Moore: Sculpture', London, 1981, p.113, plate 220, illus. Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore Complete Sculpture 1949-54, vol. 2, Lund Humprhries Ltd., London, 3rd edition, 1986), no.317, illus. plate 89 In this extraordinary piece, Moore creates a universal image of humankind, evoking a sense of a body that is simultaneously monolithic and fragile. Between 1950 and 1952 Moore made an increasing number of upright, standing figures, as opposed to his more iconic reclining nudes. In the present work, the first of a series of five Standing Figures made in 1952, Moore highlights the inherent contradictions of the human body. This angular figure is at once strong and fragile, ancient and modern, presence and void, in a manner akin to the work of Giacometti and the younger 'Geometry of Fear' artists. Standing Figure no.1 relates closely to the large bronze Double Standing Figure 1950 (now held at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center in Vasser College, Arlington) which stood outside the British Pavilion at the infamous 1952 Venice Biennale. Created the same year as the New Aspects of British Sculpture display, Standing Figure No. 1 reflects Moore's experimentation with a more rugged surface and skeletal limbs, yet the figure still retains the classical contrapposto and balance Moore is famed for. Standing Figure no.1 explores the movement of and spaces between limbs, revealing the cavities within and creating a connection between the internal and external.