Henry Moore

Ida Kimche Gallery, Zurich & Tel Aviv

The Estate of Eugene Klein (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 6, 1991, lot 31)

Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago (acquired at the above sale)

Acquired from the above

Franco Russoli & David Mitchinson, Henry Moore, Sculpture, London, 1981, nos. 533-535,  illustrations of another cast pp. 252-255

Allen Bowness, ed., Henry Moore: Sculpture 1974-1980, vol. 5, London, 1983, no. 641, another cast illustrated pls. 1-3, pp. 18-19

Susan Compton, Henry Moore, New York, 1988, no. 191, illustrations of another cast pp. 121 and 266

David Mitchinson, ed., Celebrating Moore: Works from the Collection of The Henry Moore Foundation, London, 1998, no. 233, another cast illustrated pp. 305-307

Dorothy Kosinski, Henry Moore, Sculpting the 20^th Century (exhibition catalogue), The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and The Dallas Museum of Art, 2001-2002, no. 94, another cast illustrated pp. 238 & 311

C. Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work, Theory, Impact, London, 2008, no. 174, another cast illustrated pp. 144-145

Moore in America (exhibition catalogue), The New York Botanical Garden, New York, 2008, another cast illustrated p. 62

Very good condition. The bronze displays a warm brown patina with lighter highlights on the raised areas. Seam lines, inherent to the bronze's fabrication, can be seen on top of the base, as well as four holes on the long sides of the base, which are used to lift the sculpture. There is some evidence of oxidation on top of the base in front, in back of the shield and behind the and in the sheltered areas below the torso of the figure. No significant scratches or abrasions were detected on the surface. The sculpture is clean and structurally sound.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Moore's monumental Goslar Warrior is the culmination of a theme that the artist first approached in the early 1950s.  One of only six life-sized models focused on a solitary male figure, this work is unique within Moore's oeuvre. Goslar Warrior is the final and fully-developed iteration of three models dealing specifically with the warrior. When he completed this work in 1974, Moore essentialized his figure to a series of corporeal tensions and negative spaces. The soft curves that dominate his reclining female figures give way here to a dynamic push and pull of bodily forces.

Resonant in the Goslar Warrior is the influence of Classical sculpture (fig. 1). Many of Moore's sculptures are informed by historical precedent, particularly primitive and ancient sculpture. His turn to Classical subject matter with the warrior series arises after a trip to Greece in 1951. Moore describes the impetus for this important series of sculptures: "The idea of the warrior came to me at the end of 1952 or very early 1953. It was evolved from a pebble I found on the seashore in the summer of 1952. This sculpture is the first single and separate male figure that I have done in sculpture and carrying it out in its final large scale was almost like the discovery of a new subject matter; the bony, edgy, tense forms were a great excitement to make... Like the bronze Draped Reclining Figure of 1952-1953 I think The Warrior has some Greek influence, not conciously wished for but perhaps the result of my visit to Athens and other parts of Greece in 1951" (quoted in P. James, ed., Henry Moore on Sculpture: A Collection of the Sculptor's Writings and Spoken Words, London, 1966, p. 250).

By the time he completed Goslar Warrior, Moore's work had assumed a dominant position in the canon of Modern sculpture. His influence on future generations was already keenly felt and a work such as the Goslar Warrior exemplifies his ability to revitalize historical subjects in a groundbreaking gesture. Jean Clay has written eloquently of Moore's connection to historic sculpture and its significance to late twentieth century art: "While all modern sculpture is exploding and soaring, Moore sinks into the earth, archaic and immutable, closer to prehistory than to the year 2000, even tough he was born in the heart of the industrial world. He was not made to speak of our era: speed, stridence, permanent metamorphosis, constant wear, flashing distractions. He was made to remind us of our peasant past, our umbilical cord with mother nature, our brotherhood with the primitive peoples and the cave man... What he works out, day after day, is in fact the face of our lost secrets" (quoted in Dorothy Kosinski, ed., Henry Moore, Sculpting the 20th Century (exhibition catalogue), Dallas Museum of Art, 2001, p. 27).

According to the Henry Moore Foundation, Goslar Warrior was cast in a numbered edition of seven, plus one artist's proof at the Hermann Noack foundry in Berlin.  Other casts of the present work are in the collections of the City of Goslar, Germany; the City of Santa Cruz, Tenerife; Original Masterworks California, San Diego and the Hyogo Museum, Kobe.