Henry Moore

Gallery Sakai , Tokyo (acquired in 2009)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Robert Melville, Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings 1921-1969, London, 1970, illustrations of another cast nos. 631-632
David Mitchinson (ed.), Henry Moore Sculpture with Comments by the Artist, London, 1981, no. 341, illustration of another cast p. 159
Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawing, London, 1986, vol. III, no. 472, illustration of another cast p. 47
Alan G. Wilkinson, Henry Moore Remembered, The Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Toronto, 1987, no. 148, illustration of another cast p. 196

 

Modulated dark brown to green patina. There is very minor wear to the patina consistent with age and handling, mainly along the curved ridge of the back. The base has various knocks and scuffs consistent with age and handling. This work is in very good condition.
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Henry Moore discussing the present work stated that: 'There are many structural, and sculptural principles to be learnt from bones, e.g. that in spite of their lightness they have great strength. Some bones, such as the breast bones of birds, have the lightweight fineness of a knife-blade. Finding such a bone led to me using this knife-edge thinness in 1961 in a sculpture Seated Woman (thin neck). In this figure the thin neck and head, by contrast with the width and bulk of the body, give more monumentality to the work' (quoted in Philip James (ed.), Henry Moore on Sculpture: A collection of the Sculptor's Writings and Spoken Words, London, 1966).

Seated Woman: Thin Neck is a captivating example of Moore's artistic vision in which he has incorporated some of the key elements of his art. The seated woman recurred throughout his career as a way of exemplifying important  emotional experiences integral to human existence interplaying with the forms of the natural world.  Moore's female figures are never solely understandable as gendered beings, rather the themes he explores are translated through his favourite form. Will Grohmann writes about the genesis of these ideas, noting that: 'Moore thereby moves beyond the elemental and reaches out from the domain of material and spatial problems to that of spiritual and absolute values... inspiration itself comes in the first place from nature. Nature teaches the fundamental principles like balance, rhythm, organic growth, attraction and repulsion, harmony and contrast. Moore therefore knows that appearance is only part of the whole and that the invisible is more important than the accident of that which can be perceived by the eye' (W. Grohmann, The Art of Henry Moore, London, 1960, p. 23). In the present work the formal elements slip in and out of abstraction, and the richly textured surface adds a different complexion to its many facets.

Casts of Seated Woman: Thin Neck reside in many prominent public collections, including: Tate Gallery, London; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota; Des Moines Arts Centre, Iowa and Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.