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Henry Moore 1898-1986 Mother and Child: Round Form, 1980 Inscribed and numbered 'Moore 1/9' Bronze. Conceived and cast in 1980 by the Fiorini Foundry in an edition of 9 plus 1 artist's proof. 7 3/4 x 4 3/8 x 5 3/8 in, 19.7 x 11 x 13.6 cm Provenance Private Collection, New York (acquired directly from the artist) Private Collection, New York Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 1996, lot 314 Private Collection, London (acquired from the above) Jeanne Frank Gallery, New York Private Collection, East Coast USA (acquired from the above 17 March 1997) Literature Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, 1980-1986, vol. 6, London, 1988, p.51, no.789, illus. of another cast pl.38 This work is recorded in the archives of the Henry Moore Foundation Mother and Child: Round Form is a graceful reimagining of this crucial motif in Moore's oeuvre. Stylistically it allowed for Moore to experiment with the relationship between large and small forms, while thematically he could handle notions of intimacy and regeneration. The bodies are reduced to their elemental shapes in an embrace of modern abstraction that disrupts the traditional repose of the seated Madonna and infant Christ. Moore was particularly drawn to the essential balance between internal and external forms, suggesting that the relationship between 'an outer protection to an inner form' is like the relationship between mother and child. Moore cast this sculpture in an edition of nine, with his proof remaining in the collection of the Moore Foundation and the sixth edition now being in Yale Center for British Art. In 1980, the same year as Mother and Child: Round Form was cast, Moore was exhibited at the V&A, London; Haus der Kunst, Munich and Wildenstein, Buenos Aires.

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