Lot 25
  • 25

Henry Moore

Estimate
2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Henry Moore
  • Reclining Figure No. 7
  • Inscribed with the signature Moore, stamped with the foundry mark H. Noack Berlin and numbed 1/9
  • Bronze
  • Length: 39 1/2 in.
  • 100 cm

Provenance

Weintraub Gallery, New York (probably acquired from the artist)

Aberbach Fine Art, New York (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 11, 1988, lot 59)

Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Literature

David Mitchinson, ed., Henry Moore Sculpture, with comments by the artist, London, 1981, no. 618, illustration of another cast p. 296

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture 1974-1980, London, 1983, vol. 5, no. 752, illustration of another cast pls. 158-161

Henry Moore, The Reclining Figure (exhibition catalogue), Columbus Museum of Art, 1984, illustration of another cast p. 102

Condition

Please contact the Impressionist and Modern Art Department at (212) 606-7360 for the condition report for this lot.
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.

Catalogue Note

Moore's reclining figures are among his most celebrated and spatially sophisticated works. Beginning in the 1920s and until the end of his life he would continually rework the motif, repositioning, dividing and in some cases abstracting the body so that only its elemental nature remained intact. The present work dates from the height of his career, when he had mastered the most technically complex expressions of this form. Moore himself described the progression of his sculpture as "becoming less representational, less outwardly a visual copy, and so what some people would call more abstract; but only because in this way I can present the human psychological context of my work with the greatest clearness and intensity" (quoted in F. S. Wight, ed., Henry Moore: The Reclining Figure, The Columbus Museum [exhibition catalogue], 1984, p. 131).

Moore's preference for the reclining figure as a subject of his sculpture is well-documented.  In interviews he explained his predilection for this form, and the spatial challenges that it presented for him. One of his most succinct explanations was published in his self-titled monograph in the final years of his life: "There are three fundamental poses of the human figure. One is standing, the other is seated, and the third is lying down.... But of the three poses, the reclining figure gives the most freedom, compositionally and spatially. The seated figure has to have something to sit on. You can't free it from its pedestal. A reclining figure can recline on any surface. It is free and stable at the same time. It fits in with my belief that sculpture should be permanent, should last for eternity. Also, it has repose. And it suits me if you know what I mean" (quoted in ibid., 1984, p. 26).

Lord Clark, whose definitive essays on Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance have become legendary in the field of art history, recognized Moore as the great visionary of European sculpture. "The popular conception of Moore as the master of the reclining figure is correct.  His vertical motifs, the internal/external forms and agonized columns, marvelous as they are, have been episodes. The reclining figure had reappeared at every phase of his work, and in the last few years has been the basis of his greatest sculpture" (K. Clark, quoted in ibid., 1984, p. 4).

The present work was conceived circa 1978-80 and cast during the artist's lifetime in an edition of nine bronzes.