Lot 3295 - A209 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 21. June 2024, 05.00 PM
HENRY MOORE
(Castleford 1898–1986 Much Hadham)
Maquette for Reclining Mother and Child. 1974.
Bronze, brown patina.
Signed, numbered and with foundry stamp below on the back: Moore 2/9 Noack Berlin.
L 18.3 cm.
Provenance:
- With Galerie Gérald Cramer, Geneva.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired on 9.6.1975 from the above gallery and thence by descent.
Literature:
Alan Bowness: Henry Moore. Sculpture and drawings, 1974–80, London 1983, vol. V, p. 19, no. 647 (ill.).
"For Moore, physical reality is the basis on which a plastic form is developed that expresses not only its visual peculiarities, but also its psychological and imaginary suggestions."
(Franco Russoli, in: Mitchinson, Henry Moore. Plastiken, Stuttgart 1981, p.7).
Moore's interest in the relationship between form and the reality behind it becomes visible in his engagement with the theme of the human body – the human form as the basis of sculpture – in many ways throughout his entire creative period.
The late work presented here, which combines two motifs recurring throughout his Œuvre, that of the "reclining woman" and that of "mother and child", is an impressive testament to this wonderful development of physical reality into plastic forms in all dimensions:
The formal elements, sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, sometimes rounder, sometimes more angular, sometimes markedly protruding, sometimes arching inwards, sometimes horizontally, sometimes rising steeply, create a recumbent mother who stands her child upright in her arms so that the two face each other.
These human bodies, which have become plastic forms, simultaneously become a moment of life that triggers individual emotions, associations and sensations in everyone who looks at them.
In addition to form and sensations, there is a third level: the sculpture not only stands on its own, but also enters into a relationship with the landscape and becomes part of the scenery. Our perspective and feelings triggered change depending on whether we are confronted with the "reclining mother and child" in a park in Sydney, in Japan or in New Orleans.
The bronze here from 1974 is the maquette for the large figure made in seven casts in 1975/76. Although it is around 12 times smaller than that one, it is just as perfect in form and expression. It also impresses with its beautiful brown patina.
(Franco Russoli, in: Mitchinson, Henry Moore. Plastiken, Stuttgart 1981, p.7).
Moore's interest in the relationship between form and the reality behind it becomes visible in his engagement with the theme of the human body – the human form as the basis of sculpture – in many ways throughout his entire creative period.
The late work presented here, which combines two motifs recurring throughout his Œuvre, that of the "reclining woman" and that of "mother and child", is an impressive testament to this wonderful development of physical reality into plastic forms in all dimensions:
The formal elements, sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, sometimes rounder, sometimes more angular, sometimes markedly protruding, sometimes arching inwards, sometimes horizontally, sometimes rising steeply, create a recumbent mother who stands her child upright in her arms so that the two face each other.
These human bodies, which have become plastic forms, simultaneously become a moment of life that triggers individual emotions, associations and sensations in everyone who looks at them.
In addition to form and sensations, there is a third level: the sculpture not only stands on its own, but also enters into a relationship with the landscape and becomes part of the scenery. Our perspective and feelings triggered change depending on whether we are confronted with the "reclining mother and child" in a park in Sydney, in Japan or in New Orleans.
The bronze here from 1974 is the maquette for the large figure made in seven casts in 1975/76. Although it is around 12 times smaller than that one, it is just as perfect in form and expression. It also impresses with its beautiful brown patina.
CHF 60 000 / 80 000 | (€ 61 860 / 82 470)
Sold for CHF 60 000 (hammer price)
All information is subject to change.