"The Reclining Figure", frontis piece from
the portfolio series, etching on handmade
chine paper, 17 1/2 x 20 1/2", 1977/78.
"The Reclining Figure", plate 2 of 8
from the portfolio series, etching
on handmade chine paper,
17 1/2 x 20 1/2", 1977/78
"The Reclining Figure", plate 7 of 8
from the portfolio series, etching
on handmade chine paper,
17 1/2 x 20 1/2", 1977/78
"The Reclining Figure", plate 4 of 8
from the portfolio series, etching
on handmade chine paper,
17 1/2 x 20 1/2", 1977/78
HENRY MOORE
by Bill Lasarow
(Leslie Sacks Fine Art, West Los Angeles)
One of the central themes that endured throughout Henry Moore's career was
that of the reclining figure. It appeared in the early Pre-Columbian- inspired
work. It continued as a central part of the crucial 1930s work that opened
up the interior space of the Modernist figure. The London Tube drawings
done during World War II, which brought Moore in from avant garde exile
to make him popular with the British public, feature numerous examples of
seated and reclining figures--connecting his formal and historical thinking
to direct experience. And through the long stretch after the war, when Moore
commanded one major public commission after another, his version of the
reclining figure became a virtual icon of public sculpture.
Given the long shadow cast by the ubiquity of this image it is easy now
to overlook it as dated or clichéd--and to forget the original freshness
of Moore's fusion and the power of his vision. This presentation of prints
is devoted entirely to this one subject, and as such The Reclining Figure
doesn't demand a revision of Moore's art; it does remind you about the
force and variety that is possible within one persistently mined image.
The work featured here consists of an eight-plate etching portfolio--appropriately
titled The Reclining Figure--created in 1977/78 (this is late work;
Moore was just turning eighty); and a group of over-sized etching/aquatint/drypoint
prints done at 2RC Editrice in Rome in 1980. The former are essentially
drawings, but are equally rooted in direct observation of the figure and
Moore's somatic memory of his own sculpture. The latter are essentially
run-ups for executable ideas. The former depict the human image as flesh
partially covered by drapery, while the latter abstract that form and translate
it into eternal material.
The Reclining Figure portfolio typifies Moore's monumental conception
of volume. One leg and arm bear the weight of a hefty upper body and torso
as though they were architectural columns. The opposite arm and leg are
allowed to rise up and wrap the figure in repose and curvilinear rhythm.
The palpable substance that lends great weight to these figures is thus
imbued with a balancing grace.
Of far greater interest to Moore than nuance of musculature is the way in
which light casts shadow on each volume in order to define it. He often
adds a pure linear element, kind of a segmentation, to lend further dimensional
clarity to light-saturated areas. Intellectually this reads as the sculptor's
crib notes, but visually it provides a necessary counter-rhythm that adds
life to compositions that would otherwise be too formulaic.
Each figure in the suite is placed outside the studio into the landscape,
emphasizing the pastoral, as opposed to academic, character of Moore's intent.
This does not bespeak of a visual identification of the human form with
nature, but of a deeply rooted relationship with it that is echoed by his
use of simplified, undulating masses.
Landscape and architecture are even further reduced in the larger prints,
finally becoming merely a trivial backdrop for the presentation of a sculptural
idea. The exception is the Reclining Figure in Dark Landscape, in
which the figure begins to melt into the atmospheric darkness, projecting
a different spiritual presence than other images. The Stone Reclining
Figure is a most comfortably familiar rendition, but the massive closed
form remains awkward. Stone Reclining Figure with Architecture Background
shows a more inventive side, one in which the eye is tempted to playfully
interpret the acrobatically interlocked shapes.
By restricting itself to a single theme this show overcomes it's limitations
of quantity and media. It allows you to reflect on the sources of Moore's
major work and takes you through the stages by which he arrives at its doorstep.
