Henry Moore

Curt Valentin Gallery, New York
Mr. & Mrs. Stanley B. Resor, Greenwich, Connecticut (acquired from the above by 1946)
Thence by descent

New York, Museum of Modern Art; Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago & San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Henry Moore: Retrospective Exhibition, 1946-47, no. 102

Curt Valentin, The Drawings of Henry Moore, New York, 1946, illustrated pl. 23
Robert Melville, Henry Moore: Unpublished Drawings, Turin, 1970, illustrated pl. 333
Ann Garrould, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Drawings 1940-49, vol. 3, London, 1998, nos. AG 44.58 & HMF 2231, illustrated p. 225

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is fixed to the mount at several points along the verso of the perimeter. The edges are slightly irregular and there is a very slight waviness to the sheet. There is a small loss of paper in the upper left corner and artist's pinholes in all four corners. The sheet is very lightly time-stained but the pigments remain fresh and richly textured. This work is in very good condition.
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.

This Estate of Stanley R. Resor is distinguished by its extraordinary history of ownership within the Resor family, beginning with Mr. and Mrs. Stanley B. Resor, the husband and wife team that transformed J. Walter Thompson into a leading advertising firm. Mrs. Resor was an early trustee and key supporter of the Museum of Modern Art and developed a close friendship with Alfred H. Barr, its first director. Among her greatest contributions to the museum was her anonymous donation of Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory. These works were later in the personal collection of their son, Stanley R. Resor, prominent American lawyer, military officer and government official.

Family Groups, executed in 1944, is a wonderful example of Moore's mastery of technique in working on paper, employing the same crayon and wash combination he adopted in his famous series of Shelter drawings also of the early 1940s. The Family Groups are among Moore's most important subjects and, almost without exception, were conceived of and created during the brief and intensely creative period of 1944-48. The theme reflects both the artist's wish for peace and harmony at the peak of the war and during its aftermath, as well as an expression of hope and the possibility of happiness following the birth of his first child, Mary. As Alan Wilkinson has written, "The importance of Henry Moore's drawings for sculpture cannot be over-estimated. Few great sculptors have left through their drawings such an extensive record of the genesis of so many sculptures. Between 1921 and the early 1950s almost all Moore's most important carvings and bronzes, as well as many lesser works, had their own origin in the notebook page... they are crucial to our knowledge and understanding of the context and background in which Moore's art developed" (Alan Wilkinson, The Drawings of Henry Moore, New York & London, 1984, pp. 249-50).