Lot Essay
The present work is one of an edition of ten, executed in 1956. Another cast is in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It is a maquette for the large Seated Figure against Curved Wall, 1956-7 (A. Bowness, op.cit., no. 422, pls. 50-1), versions of which are held by the Arts Council of Great Britain, London, the Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
The concept of the work was inspired by Moore's interest in the theme of a figure to be placed in front of a building, which preoccupied him at the time he was working on the Draped Reclining Figure (ibid., no. 336) for the Time-Life Building in London, in 1952, and the Reclining Figure (ibid., no. 416) for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, in 1956.
In 1931 when Herbert Read wrote his The Meaning of Art he referred to sculpture as being "reborn in the work of Henry Moore". Read, the author of the first monograph on Moore in 1934, was to become not only a close friend but the prime champion of the artist's work.
The concept of the work was inspired by Moore's interest in the theme of a figure to be placed in front of a building, which preoccupied him at the time he was working on the Draped Reclining Figure (ibid., no. 336) for the Time-Life Building in London, in 1952, and the Reclining Figure (ibid., no. 416) for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, in 1956.
In 1931 when Herbert Read wrote his The Meaning of Art he referred to sculpture as being "reborn in the work of Henry Moore". Read, the author of the first monograph on Moore in 1934, was to become not only a close friend but the prime champion of the artist's work.