Lot Essay
In the early 1960s Moore became fascinated with the possibilities of separating the elements of a reclining figure. The genesis for Reclining Figure: Arch Leg may lie in Three Piece Reclining Figure No. 2: Bridge Prop (Bowness no. 513) completed in 1963, which consists of two interlocking forms (head and shoulders, torso) with the mountainous third form (legs and feet?) some distance apart.
Moore extended and refined this concept into a more stately and sinewy representation. Reclining Figure: Arch Leg is one of the few sculptures Moore completed in the 1960s and 1970s which was enlarged from the maquette (Bowness no. 609) to this very large scale with no intermediate "working model" versions.
I did the first one in two pieces almost without intending
to. But after I had done it, then the second one became a
conscious idea. I realised what an advantage a separated two-
piece composition could have in relating figures to landscape.
Knees and breasts are mountains.
Once these two parts become separated you don't expect it to
be a naturalistic figure; therefore you can justifiably make
it look like a landscape or a rock. If it's a single figure,
you can guess what it's going to be like. If it's in two
pieces there's a bigger surprise, you have more unexpected
views; therefore the special advantage over painting--of
having the possibility of many different views--is more fully
explored. The front view doesn't enable you to foresee the back view. As you move round it, the two parts overlap or they open
up and there's space in between.
Sculpture is like a journey. You have a different view as
you return. The three-dimensional view is full of surprises
in a way that a two-dimensional world could never be.
(C. Lake, "Henry Moore's World", Atlantic Monthly, Boston,
Jan. 1962)
Of the five other casts of this work, three are in public collections: Fine Art Gallery of San Diego, California; Hakone Museum, Japan and Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.
Moore extended and refined this concept into a more stately and sinewy representation. Reclining Figure: Arch Leg is one of the few sculptures Moore completed in the 1960s and 1970s which was enlarged from the maquette (Bowness no. 609) to this very large scale with no intermediate "working model" versions.
I did the first one in two pieces almost without intending
to. But after I had done it, then the second one became a
conscious idea. I realised what an advantage a separated two-
piece composition could have in relating figures to landscape.
Knees and breasts are mountains.
Once these two parts become separated you don't expect it to
be a naturalistic figure; therefore you can justifiably make
it look like a landscape or a rock. If it's a single figure,
you can guess what it's going to be like. If it's in two
pieces there's a bigger surprise, you have more unexpected
views; therefore the special advantage over painting--of
having the possibility of many different views--is more fully
explored. The front view doesn't enable you to foresee the back view. As you move round it, the two parts overlap or they open
up and there's space in between.
Sculpture is like a journey. You have a different view as
you return. The three-dimensional view is full of surprises
in a way that a two-dimensional world could never be.
(C. Lake, "Henry Moore's World", Atlantic Monthly, Boston,
Jan. 1962)
Of the five other casts of this work, three are in public collections: Fine Art Gallery of San Diego, California; Hakone Museum, Japan and Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.