Reclining Figure No. 2

Artist Henry Moore (1898 - 1986)

Date1953

MediumBronze; edition of seven

Dimensions40 x 91.5 x 37 cm

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1956. © The Estate of Henry Moore.

Object number1064

DescriptionHenry Moore studied at Leeds School of Art, and the Royal College of Art, London, and was awarded a travelling scholarship to Italy and France in 1925. He saw intense study of the human figure as fundamental for the sculptor, and throughout his life explored a restricted range of figurative themes, including mother and child, the reclining figure, and the family group. His diverse influences include the sculpture of ancient Greece, Egypt and Mexico, and also work by contemporary artists such as Brancusi and Picasso. An official war artist during World War II, his drawings of people sheltering in underground stations during the Blitz are among sources for his reclining figures.

Reclining Figure No 2 tends towards abstraction, the figure's smooth, nearly featureless head and hands reminiscent of foetal forms. It is given tension and vitality by forms such as elbows, knees and pelvis appearing to press outwards, yet it also celebrates the sensuous beauty of the body. Moore initially made holes in sculptures to become more conscious of spaces within a figure, but here, solid and void are inseparable and of equal importance. Superficial detail is avoided in an attempt to investigate deeper levels of the unconscious.

On View

On view

Collections