Henry Moore

Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure 1951

The reclining figure was commissioned by the arts council for the festival of Britain in 1951 but is now kept outside the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. As it was, he made the figure, and then found the best position for it that he could. He was simply concerned with making a sculpture in the round and it was out in the open most of the time he was working on it for the festival.

The sculpture is a bronze womanly figure which is over 2 meters long laying on a plinth, its shapes give it an interaction feature with the surroundings as there is visible gaps through the sculpture where point of the body touch the base. The piece was supposed to be based upon the theme of family symbolising ‘discovery’ but instead he chose to create a large reclining figure in Bronze.

He began making reclining figures in the late 1920’s and several small bronze figures these conventional long lean forms which define this sculpture. The sculpture more recently sold of £19.1 million, which was more than 3 times the estimated price, which some people have commented that the buyer must have had more money than sense but this sculpture is a piece of history and perhaps it was its public interaction in the festival of Britain in 1951 which pushed its price so high as the sculpture was certainly exhibited in a widely seen public arena.

An interview with Henry Moore broadcasted 30^th April 1951 gives an in depth analysis of the artist but as the filming was over 60 years ago it’s like a time capsule of information, not only of an artist but of the publics’ thought’s from that era.

The interview gently explained the ethos of modern abstract sculpture. Through innovative filming techniques and a specially commissioned soundtrack Henry Moore’s works come to life. Sculpture is working of rock or wood and Henry Moore is skilled in both, whether it’s modelling or carving.

Viewers see the ‘reclining figure’ sculpture from start to finish, sketch to model to final bronze sculpture, which gives great insight into the mind of Henry Moore. The audience must understand his approach to his work before we can appreciate the work itself. Although at the time of creation his world is unfamiliar to us with his odd shapes and although he proved popular his abstract modernist works moved British sculpture forward with unity from great originality and strength.

“Art is the expression of the imagination and not the imitation of life” Henry Moore.