Henry Moore

Private Collection, Texas
James Goodman Gallery, Inc., New York
Acquired from the above in 1987

Alan Bowness, ed.,  Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings, vol. 5, London, 1977, no. 757, illustration of another cast p. 41 & pls. 168-71

In very good condition. With a golden light brown patina. Very minor surface scrapes and scratches. Minor surface dirt.
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Conceived in 1978-79, Moore ultimately created four bronze versions of Two Piece Reclining Figure: Cut, the present work, with its impressive size and immaculate patina, being the Working Model. Other versions include the small, rough hewn maquette, a soaring monumental enlargement, and a thirteen inch reduction of the Working Model, also cast in an edition of nine. This smaller version became known as Architecture Prize, as the entire edition was acquired by the Hyatt Foundation, awarders of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Known as "architecture's Nobel", the Pritzker Prize was established, "To honor a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture." From its inception in 1979 until 1987, casts from the edition of nine were presented to Pritzker Laureates, along with a $100,000 grant, at the annual award ceremony.  Early honorees who received Moore's sculpture include such luminaries as Philip Johnson (1979), I.M. Pei (1983) and Richard Meier (1984). After nine years, the sculpture was replaced with a bronze medallion based on designs by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan.

It is easy to see why Two Piece Reclining Figure: Cut was an apt choice to represent the pinnacle of achievement in the field of architecture. Its volumetric arches, distinctive cross section of negative space and tower-like torso all evoke structural creations, unified by Moore's elegizing of form and anchored in the precepts of Modernism.