Henry Moore

Private Collection, New York (sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 16, 1979, lot 322)

Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings, vol. IV, London, 1977, no. 605, illustrations of another cast p. 57 & pls. 134-35

David Finn, Kenneth Clark & Henry Moore, Henry Moore, Sculpture and Environment, 1977, illustration of another cast p. 476

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Working Model for Two Piece Reclining Figure: Points is an extraordinary example of Moore's ability to represent three-dimensional form.  The sculpture consists of two separate pieces that comprise a grand structure of compelling beauty.  By separating these forms, Moore permits the viewer to consider the spatial depth of his work and the relationship between the solids and voids of the sculpture.  The solidity of each piece and their specific placement on the base at once create a work that is conceptually unified yet elementally disparate. This structural paradox marks Moore's true genius as a manipulator of form and visual provocateur.

Moore had experimented with dividing and sectioning his sculpture in the early 1960s, but here he has evolved his idea beyond his original expectations.  Moore explained the development of the divided forms which make up his later reclining figures as follows: “I did the first one in two pieces almost without intending to.  But after I had done it, then the second one became a conscious idea…Once these two parts become separated you don’t expect it to be a naturalistic figure; therefore you can justifiably make it look like a landscape or a rock.  If it’s a single figure you can guess, what it’s going to be like.  If it’s in two pieces, there’s a bigger surprise, you have more unexpected views; therefore the special advantage over painting – of having the possibility of many different views – is more fully explored…Sculpture is like a journey.  You have a different view as you return.  The three-dimensional view is full of surprises in a way that a two-dimensional world could never be" (quoted in "Henry Moore's World," Atlantic Monthly, January 1962).

The present sculpture is the "working model" size of a form that Moore ultimately created in monumental scale. Michael R. Taylor gave the following analysis of Moore's fragmented figures in an exhibition catalogue for the Philadelphia Museum in 1998: “The intervals between the three sections of the sculpture can be likened to the manner in which broken antique figures, such as the pediment sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum, are displayed.  Moore offers the viewer a correctly proportioned figure, with space and form completely dependent on and inseparable from each other, thereby allowing us mentally to complete the gap between the upper body and the stranded legs. The fully three-dimensional character of the work allows for almost unlimited points of view and unexpected vistas, which constantly change as one walks around the sculptures...The sculpture has an emotional intensity that speaks to us on many levels and conveys with an eloquent assurance the artist's unshakable belief in the significance of life in its spiritual and organic aspects” (Henry Moore: An Exhibition in Celebration of Philip I. Berman [exhibition catalogue], The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998, p. 39).

The present work belongs to an edition of ten bronzes, plus one artist's proof. Another cast of this work is in the collection of the Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo.