During the 1950s Moore received commissions for large sculptures to be placed in architectural settings, most importantly Draped Reclining Figure (ed. A. Bowness, op. cit., no. 336; see lots 339 and 340 for maquettes to the related screen) for the Time-Life Building in London and the travertine marble Reclining Figure (ibid., no. 416) for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The problems of relating the figure to its architectural surroundings continued to fascinate the artist and during this time he produced about a dozen sculptures on a smaller scale in which the composition incorporates the figure and an architectural backdrop.

In these works the wall is not a neutral or decorative prop but serves to generate much of the psychological atmosphere inherent in the overall composition. Here the flat, square wall with recessed window-like shapes evoke urban surroundings, against which the human figure, as if reshaped and molded by the stresses of this environment, is partly transformed into an abstract being.