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拍品专文
For Henry Moore the theme of the reclining figure was, in his own words, “an absolute obsession,” and served as the site of some of his greatest and most daring sculptural innovations throughout his long career. “The vital thing for an artist is to have a subject that allows [him] to try out all kinds of formal ideas—things that he doesn’t yet know about for certain but wants to experiment with, as Cezanne did in his Bathers series,” he explained. “In my case the reclining figure provides chances of that sort. The subject-matter is given. It’s settled for you, and you know it and like it, so that within it, within the subject that you’ve done a dozen times before, you are free to invent a completely new form-idea” (quoted in C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work-Theory-Impact, London, 2008, p. 95).
Conceived in 1981, Reclining Woman: Elbow is one of the artist’s final monumental sculptures devoted to the subject, and represents the culmination of almost six decades of invention and thematic variation on the theme. Realized on a monumental scale, the present cast was acquired directly from the artist by the Saltzmans over forty years ago.
Moore’s encounters with the art of the ancient world proved essential to his conception of the reclining figure through the years. He was particularly captivated by the Chacmool, a thousand-year-old sandstone carving of a Toltec-Mayan rain spirit discovered at Chichén Itzá and displayed today in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. Moore came across a plaster cast of the original while visiting the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro (now the Musée de l’Homme) in Paris, and was intrigued by the internal energy of the Pre-Columbian sculpture. “It was the pose that struck me,” he explained, “this idea of a figure being on its back and turned upwards to the sky instead of lying on its side... its stillness and alertness, a sense of readiness… the whole presence of it…” (quoted in A. Wilkinson, ed., Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 98). While the immediate impact of the Chacmool could be felt in works such as Moore’s 1929 Reclining Figure (Lund Humphries, no. 59; Leeds Art Gallery), its influence continued to reverberate through the artist’s oeuvre, shaping his conception of the human form across the decades, and imbuing his sculptures with a powerful monumentality and internal energy.
Created over half a century later, Reclining Woman: Elbow showcases the evolution of Moore’s approach to the figure through the years, its sensuous form offering a continual site of experimentation and exploration for the artist’s creative imagination. The work offers an elegant vision of a woman in repose, her volumetric form articulated through undulating curves and sweeping contours. Here, the recumbent figure rests on her left side, supporting the weight of her upper body on her elbow and forearm, while her other arm relaxes, remaining flush with her side. The relatively descriptive treatment of the gently curved upper body stands in contrast to the more abstract treatment of the legs, which separate slightly to create an open space between her thighs and calves, leading the eye through the sculpture. While there is a gentleness and sense of ease within the body, the sculpture is infused with a distinct sense of movement as the woman shifts her weight, suggesting she is in the middle of changing positions. These subtle nuances reveal the decades of study and refinement that lay behind Moore’s mature sculptural vision, each detail reflecting his in-depth observation and appreciation of the internal dynamism of the body.
Another cast of Reclining Woman: Elbow was personally selected by the artist to take pride of place on the terraced entrance of the Leeds City Art Gallery, to celebrate the opening of the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture. This building project acknowledged Moore’s deep ties to Leeds—he had first studied in the city’s College of Art following his service in the First World War, and it was there that he learned the fundamentals of his craft. Reclining Woman: Elbow was an appropriate sculpture for this crowning event in the artist’s career—as Moore noted, “From the very beginning the reclining figure has been my main theme. The first one I made was around 1924, and probably more than half of my sculptures since have been reclining figures” (quoted in J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 151). Much care was taken, with Moore’s participation, to site the figure to its best advantage against the gallery’s warm, golden sandstone façade, and all was ready in November 1982 when Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the new gallery and study center.
Cast in an edition of nine plus one artist’s proof, another example of Reclining Woman: Elbow can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The Saltzmans acquired the present sculpture directly from Moore in the early 1980s. As the couple’s son Eric recalls, “When Arnold was chasing an artist or work he needed for his collection, very little would stop him—with Henry Moore’s fantastic bronze, he was chasing both. He flew to London and drove out to Moore’s home and studio in Hertfordshire, hoping to persuade Moore to sell him the work. Moore demurred, explaining that all his finished work went directly to his Foundation, and he didn’t control their disposition. Arnold made several more visits, each time bringing the particular Israeli melons he’d learned Moore liked. Somehow, the Foundation found a way to free up the sculpture to sell to Arnold. I still have Henry Moore’s personal thank you note for the melons.”
Once the sculpture was ready to leave the foundry, Moore wrote to the Saltzmans with suggestions for the type of pedestal that would best suit Reclining Woman: Elbow, and where the work should be placed in the gardens surrounding their home on Long Island. Moore remained close with the Saltzmans afterwards, and numerous letters between the couple and the artist record the passage of thoughtful gifts and well-wishes between the two.
Conceived in 1981, Reclining Woman: Elbow is one of the artist’s final monumental sculptures devoted to the subject, and represents the culmination of almost six decades of invention and thematic variation on the theme. Realized on a monumental scale, the present cast was acquired directly from the artist by the Saltzmans over forty years ago.
Moore’s encounters with the art of the ancient world proved essential to his conception of the reclining figure through the years. He was particularly captivated by the Chacmool, a thousand-year-old sandstone carving of a Toltec-Mayan rain spirit discovered at Chichén Itzá and displayed today in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. Moore came across a plaster cast of the original while visiting the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro (now the Musée de l’Homme) in Paris, and was intrigued by the internal energy of the Pre-Columbian sculpture. “It was the pose that struck me,” he explained, “this idea of a figure being on its back and turned upwards to the sky instead of lying on its side... its stillness and alertness, a sense of readiness… the whole presence of it…” (quoted in A. Wilkinson, ed., Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 98). While the immediate impact of the Chacmool could be felt in works such as Moore’s 1929 Reclining Figure (Lund Humphries, no. 59; Leeds Art Gallery), its influence continued to reverberate through the artist’s oeuvre, shaping his conception of the human form across the decades, and imbuing his sculptures with a powerful monumentality and internal energy.
Created over half a century later, Reclining Woman: Elbow showcases the evolution of Moore’s approach to the figure through the years, its sensuous form offering a continual site of experimentation and exploration for the artist’s creative imagination. The work offers an elegant vision of a woman in repose, her volumetric form articulated through undulating curves and sweeping contours. Here, the recumbent figure rests on her left side, supporting the weight of her upper body on her elbow and forearm, while her other arm relaxes, remaining flush with her side. The relatively descriptive treatment of the gently curved upper body stands in contrast to the more abstract treatment of the legs, which separate slightly to create an open space between her thighs and calves, leading the eye through the sculpture. While there is a gentleness and sense of ease within the body, the sculpture is infused with a distinct sense of movement as the woman shifts her weight, suggesting she is in the middle of changing positions. These subtle nuances reveal the decades of study and refinement that lay behind Moore’s mature sculptural vision, each detail reflecting his in-depth observation and appreciation of the internal dynamism of the body.
Another cast of Reclining Woman: Elbow was personally selected by the artist to take pride of place on the terraced entrance of the Leeds City Art Gallery, to celebrate the opening of the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture. This building project acknowledged Moore’s deep ties to Leeds—he had first studied in the city’s College of Art following his service in the First World War, and it was there that he learned the fundamentals of his craft. Reclining Woman: Elbow was an appropriate sculpture for this crowning event in the artist’s career—as Moore noted, “From the very beginning the reclining figure has been my main theme. The first one I made was around 1924, and probably more than half of my sculptures since have been reclining figures” (quoted in J. Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, New York, 1968, p. 151). Much care was taken, with Moore’s participation, to site the figure to its best advantage against the gallery’s warm, golden sandstone façade, and all was ready in November 1982 when Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the new gallery and study center.
Cast in an edition of nine plus one artist’s proof, another example of Reclining Woman: Elbow can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The Saltzmans acquired the present sculpture directly from Moore in the early 1980s. As the couple’s son Eric recalls, “When Arnold was chasing an artist or work he needed for his collection, very little would stop him—with Henry Moore’s fantastic bronze, he was chasing both. He flew to London and drove out to Moore’s home and studio in Hertfordshire, hoping to persuade Moore to sell him the work. Moore demurred, explaining that all his finished work went directly to his Foundation, and he didn’t control their disposition. Arnold made several more visits, each time bringing the particular Israeli melons he’d learned Moore liked. Somehow, the Foundation found a way to free up the sculpture to sell to Arnold. I still have Henry Moore’s personal thank you note for the melons.”
Once the sculpture was ready to leave the foundry, Moore wrote to the Saltzmans with suggestions for the type of pedestal that would best suit Reclining Woman: Elbow, and where the work should be placed in the gardens surrounding their home on Long Island. Moore remained close with the Saltzmans afterwards, and numerous letters between the couple and the artist record the passage of thoughtful gifts and well-wishes between the two.