Henry Moore: Reclining Figure: Arch Leg
Art Outdoors /Henry Moore: Reclining Figure: Arch Leg
Henry Moore made his first reclining figure out of Mansfield stone in the early 1920s. The subject became his most recognisable and iconic, and one that he returned to prolifically throughout his career. Moore spoke about preferring it for practical reasons as, unlike a standing figure, it didn’t have to be self-supporting on two small points, as well as having a lower centre of gravity. It had also been a universal artistic motif since antiquity, and one that Moore considered, “gives the most freedom compositionally and spatially”.
A familiar place where he could experiment and apply evolving ideas, Moore’s recumbent figures reflect many different stages of abstraction, with Reclining Figure Arch Leg being highly abstract and comprising two highly simplified forms to suggest a body. Moore often thought of the human figure in terms of landscape, and the reclining position reflects the horizontal bands of earth, sea and sky. The torso and arched leg of this work could be seen as resembling a sea stack and arch as found around the coast of this country.
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Henry Moore: Large Totem Head
This sculpture is enlarged from a much smaller work made five years previously called Head: Boat Form and the resemblance to a hollowed-out boat remains clear. However, unlike that sculpture, which sat horizontally, Large Totem Head is raised to a standing form, assuming the totem-like presence of its title. - Art Outdoors
Henry Moore: Large Spindle Piece
Large Spindle Piece was based on the shape of a piece of flint with protruding points that Moore found near his Perry Green home. It was also greatly inspired by Moore’s fascination with Michelangelo, which had begun almost 50 years earlier. A Royal Academy Scholarship had enabled Moore to travel to Italy in 1925 where he visited the Sistine Chapel. - Art Outdoors
Henry Moore: Three Piece Reclining Figure No.1
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Henry Moore: Upright Motives No. 1 (Glenkiln Cross): No 2; No 7
Moore created twelve Upright Motives in the mid 1950s. In their powerful symbolism these pieces owe much to the tall, upright stones, known as menhirs, from prehistoric times. Moore brought all these influences together to create forms which are unmistakably his own.
