Lot 474: HENRY MOORE, O.M., C.H.

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIDNEY E. FRANK

1898-1986
FAMILY GROUP

measurements
height: 5 7/8 in.

alternate measurements
14.8 cm

Conceived in 1944-45 and cast in bronze in 1969 in a numbered edition of 9 plus one artist's proof.

Inscribed Moore and numbered 6/9

Bronze, green patina

PROVENANCE

Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., New York
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1970; sold: Christie's, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 271)
James Goodman Gallery, New York

LITERATURE

David Sylvester (ed.), Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings 1921-1948, vol. I, London, 1957, no. 237, terracotta catalogued p. 15
Ionel Jianou, Henry Moore, Paris, 1968, no. 224, terracotta catalogued p. 74
Franco Russoli & David Mitchinson, Henry Moore Sculpture, London, 1981, no. 177, illustration of another cast p. 94 (catalogued as an edition of 8)

NOTE

The Family Groups are among Moore's most important subjects and, with only one exception, were made during the brief period of 1944-48. Of the seventeen sculptural interpretations of the theme, fifteen are small maquettes varying in size from five to eight inches and two are of a larger scale. These works reflect both the artist's wish for peace and harmony in the post-war world and his expression of happiness following the birth of his first child, Mary.

Curator Gail Gelburd further expounds on the impact of the experience on Moore's work: "The addition of a male figure to his work constituted a radical change in his work. As Moore once noted, "women must outnumber men by at least fifty to one. Men get brought in when they are essential to the subject, for example in a family group." Although the family groups still strive to avoid symmetry, the addition of a male figure (the artist now as father) in the work, as well as sometimes another child, complicated the formal problems. The various maquettes and working models show the sculptor trying different devices for unifying the figure" (Mother and Child: the Art of Henry Moore, Exhibition Catalogue, Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, New York, 1987-88, p. 30).

Fig. 1 Henry and Irina in the Parkhill Road Studio Flat. (© Henry Moore foundation Archives)