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Lot Essay
The doyen of the art establishment in twentieth-century Britain, Sir Kenneth Clark first met Henry Moore in 1938, beginning what would become a longstanding and mutually respectful professional relationship. Having been appointed as surveyor of the King’s Pictures by 1934, Clark had then served as director, firstly of the Ashmolean Museum and subsequently the National Gallery, and through the brilliance of his academic and institutional career he justly earned a position of significant aesthetic influence. His appreciation and avid endorsement of Moore’s work played a critical part in the success and worldwide renown that the artist was to enjoy in the decades that followed.
In 1948 Mother Preparing Child for Bath was acquired by Clark directly from the artist, who had executed it shortly after the end of World War II. Moore had famously made a number of powerfully moving drawings of Londoners sheltering from the Blitz in underground stations during the war. These were works which, through their honest and compassionate depictions of vulnerability and confinement, did so much to champion the quiet courage of ordinary people stoically withstanding the ravages of the bombing. As Chair of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, Clark recognised their propagandic value. More importantly, however, he saw in them something more universal: an expression of humanity which emphasised its nobility and which accentuated the archetypal bonds of intimacy. These were themes which preoccupied the artist for the rest of his career.
‘The Mother and Child is a theme that’s been universal from the beginning of time. Some of the very earliest sculptures we have are from Neolithic times, are mothers and children. It’s a subject, just like talking about human figure or the female figure. Mother and child theme is just something universal.’ – Henry Moore
The figure of mother and child, that most enduring of art historical motifs, was also to become one of Moore’s most frequently recurring subjects, featuring in his drawings and sculptures alike, right up until the final years of his life. In the present work the theme is endowed with Moore’s characteristically modernist treatment, as manifested by his treatment of the mother’s head and the relative monumentality of her torso and limbs, carefully given volume through the use of sculptural lines. The stark emptiness of the room and the off-centre positioning of the figures speaks to a sense of social separation and austerity. And yet these anxieties cannot weaken the unbreakable maternal attachment and the primordial urge of a mother to provide tender care to her child. This is all the more poignant given the birth of Moore’s only child Mary the very same year.
Having remained in Clark’s personal collection for many years, and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1948, where Moore was awarded the International Sculpture Prize, this work enjoys an exceptional provenance. But its emblematic subject matter also distinguishes it as a remarkable example of Moore’s ability to articulate a pure and unembellished conception of dependence.
In 1948 Mother Preparing Child for Bath was acquired by Clark directly from the artist, who had executed it shortly after the end of World War II. Moore had famously made a number of powerfully moving drawings of Londoners sheltering from the Blitz in underground stations during the war. These were works which, through their honest and compassionate depictions of vulnerability and confinement, did so much to champion the quiet courage of ordinary people stoically withstanding the ravages of the bombing. As Chair of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, Clark recognised their propagandic value. More importantly, however, he saw in them something more universal: an expression of humanity which emphasised its nobility and which accentuated the archetypal bonds of intimacy. These were themes which preoccupied the artist for the rest of his career.
‘The Mother and Child is a theme that’s been universal from the beginning of time. Some of the very earliest sculptures we have are from Neolithic times, are mothers and children. It’s a subject, just like talking about human figure or the female figure. Mother and child theme is just something universal.’ – Henry Moore
The figure of mother and child, that most enduring of art historical motifs, was also to become one of Moore’s most frequently recurring subjects, featuring in his drawings and sculptures alike, right up until the final years of his life. In the present work the theme is endowed with Moore’s characteristically modernist treatment, as manifested by his treatment of the mother’s head and the relative monumentality of her torso and limbs, carefully given volume through the use of sculptural lines. The stark emptiness of the room and the off-centre positioning of the figures speaks to a sense of social separation and austerity. And yet these anxieties cannot weaken the unbreakable maternal attachment and the primordial urge of a mother to provide tender care to her child. This is all the more poignant given the birth of Moore’s only child Mary the very same year.
Having remained in Clark’s personal collection for many years, and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1948, where Moore was awarded the International Sculpture Prize, this work enjoys an exceptional provenance. But its emblematic subject matter also distinguishes it as a remarkable example of Moore’s ability to articulate a pure and unembellished conception of dependence.