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Lot Essay
During the early 1950s Moore worked on a series of sculptures that explored the theme of internal/external forms. These works reaffirmed Moore's ability to produce robust, seemingly abstract sculpture that was imbued with great tenderness and humanity. Their inspiration came from shapes found in nature. "The whole of nature is an endless demonstration of shape and form, and it surprises me when artists try to escape from this" (Henry Moore, quoted in M. Mitchinson, ed., Henry Moore Sculpture, with Comments by the Artist, London, 1981, p. 246). Moore explained that the impetus for the present work was "a sort of embryo being protected by an outer form, a mother and child idea, of the stamen in a flower, that is, something young and growing being protected by an outer shell" (quoted in P. James, ed., Henry Moore on Sculpture, London, 1966, p. 247). Moore strove to give the impression that the forms had grown organically or been created from a pressure within as he said: "For me a work must have a vitality of its own . . . a pent-up energy, an intense life of its own, independent of the object it may represent" (quoted in Henry Moore, Carvings, Bronzes, New York, 1970, p. 77).