Silhouette of Henry Moore Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1 1961 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Henry Moore: Three Piece Reclining Figure No.1

Art Outdoors /

Henry Moore: Three Piece Reclining Figure No.1

Three Piece Reclining Figure No.1 reveals the extent to which the bones and other natural objects that Moore collected influenced his works, with one section of this sculpture drawn directly from an animal vertebra. As the artist suggests in this quote, although the three forms are physically disconnected, there is an irresistible relationship between them. The figure is heavily abstracted as well as being fragmented, with the ‘head’, for example, being barely a suggestion.

The sculpture’s surface is heavily textured and suggestive of a rock’s surface, so the body can also be read as a landscape, something that is especially relevant in its current position. Not only is the hillside beyond as backdrop to the sculpture, but it is also seen through the voids in its three sections.

The middle piece was suggested by a vertebra – of I don’t know what animal it was – that I found in the garden. And the connection of one piece to another is the kind of connection that a backbone will have with one section through to the next section. But they’ve been separated. It’s as though you’ve left the slipped disc out of them, but it’s there.

- Henry Moore
  • Henry Moore Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1 1961 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
  • Henry Moore Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1 1961 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
  • Henry Moore Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1 1961 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

You might also like

  1. Jonathan Borofsky Molecule Man 1977-78 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
    Art Outdoors

    Jonathan Borofsky: Molecule Man 1+1+1

  2. Three tall thin bronze sculptures looking out over the landscape
    Art Outdoors

    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.
  3. People walk across the grass in the country park towards a Henry Moore sculpture.
    News

    YSP recognised as ‘gold’ winners in Visit England Awards

    26 October 2022
  4. A dry stone wall sheep fold enclosure
    Art Outdoors

    Andy Goldsworthy: Shadow Stone Fold