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拍品专文
The present lot marks a transitional phase in Henry Moore's career, a period which followed his underground shelter drawings of 1940-41 and pre-dates the preliminary sketches he did for his 1940s sculptural projects. With the outbreak of the Second World War Moore's teaching career at the Chelsea School of Art was terminated and he enrolled in a precision tool-making course, to aid the drive for munitions, at the Chelsea Polytechnic. With wartime restrictions on materials and the uncertainty of future plans Moore's sculptural works were put on hold and for a few years Moore focused solely on his drawings. Moore himself stated, 'I was expecting from day to day to hear from Chelsea Polytechnic and there was no point in starting work on a newsculpture when I might be called away at any moment, so I was doing nothing but drawings' (H. Moore, Henry Moore a Shelter Sketchbook, London, 1988, p. 8).
The early 1940s marks a prolific period for the development of Moore's draughtsmanship skills. Captivated by the harrowing scenes he saw in London, of people taking refuge in the underground stations, huddled together, seeking safety in the dark cavernous tunnels, Moore began to sketch wartime life in the capital, capturing powerful evocations of human suffering and fear. These sketches proved extremely popular among the British population and boosted his reputation considerably, providing him with the title of Official War Artist in 1940 and creating a name for himself in America. Reflecting on this period Moore described the effect these works had on him, he explained, 'The war brought out and encouraged the humanist side in one's work,' a quality which Moore would continue to be celebrated for throughout his lifetime (R. Crawford (foreword), Henry Moore War and Utility, London, 2006, p. 8).
By the summer of 1942 the government had begun to institutionalise the shelters, providing bunk beds and sanitation. For Moore this made the practice too routine and organised, removing the drama and strangeness which had first captivated him. Encouraged by Herbert Read Moore went to draw the coal miners at Wheldale Colliery, where his father had worked, a practice which left him with months of drawing material and ignited fresh ideas for sculpture, which he began sketching for in 1942. Highlighting the productivity of this period, Moore showcased a work of fifty of his drawings at Kurt Valentin's gallery in New York. Figures with architecture, 1943, bears a close resemblance to the work that he did in the London Underground and at Wheldale Colliery. Set against a black background, a series of figures emerge from the dark. The entwined forms on the far left and the figure to the right are tightly wrapped in a coat seated on a bench, harking back to his work in the shelters, with people camping down on the platforms for the night. They could also reference the role of the miner, 'Britain's Underground Army', who toiled in the darkshafts, wading through the choking dust and noise of the coal-cutting machinery, the coat perhaps a symbol of the workmen and the yellow light behind the figure illustrating the shine from the miners' lamps.
Moore used a variety of materials to create depth and atmosphere, finding that the wax crayon could be especially effective when combined with a dark wash of watercolour, a practice he accidently discovered in late 1930s when drawing for his young niece. Combining this with Indian ink and pencil to define his forms, Moore developed a striking chiaroscuro style that gave weight and solidity to his figures, an effect that is especially powerful in the present work. Ann Garrould reiterates, 'His watercolour sketches of thedarkened caves render space and atmosphere like a picture by Goya, but, as was to be expected, his renderings of the human body are given weight and substance and related to each other like great sculpture' (A. Garrould, Henry Moore Drawings, London, 1988, pp. 18-20).
The figures in the present lot are less defined than earlier examples of the shelter drawings; the interplay between abstraction and realism are heightened in Figures with architecture and Figure studies, 1942, in particular, which is seen on the recto. The latter sketch sees Moore's move back to sculpture, the sketch acting less as a finished work of art than as a working drawing, and an exploration into the depiction of human form. Turning towards domestic scenes in 1942 Moore concentrated on drawing his family members, building on the new sculptural motifs of mother and child and the reclining figure, which are seen in Figure studies. In both Figures with architecture and Figure studies there is a distinct move towards the three dimensional with the sketches losing the descriptive qualities of the shelter images, instead focusing on the presence and weight of form, with only thin washes of yellow or the build-up of black around the figures to ground them in space.
The early 1940s marks a prolific period for the development of Moore's draughtsmanship skills. Captivated by the harrowing scenes he saw in London, of people taking refuge in the underground stations, huddled together, seeking safety in the dark cavernous tunnels, Moore began to sketch wartime life in the capital, capturing powerful evocations of human suffering and fear. These sketches proved extremely popular among the British population and boosted his reputation considerably, providing him with the title of Official War Artist in 1940 and creating a name for himself in America. Reflecting on this period Moore described the effect these works had on him, he explained, 'The war brought out and encouraged the humanist side in one's work,' a quality which Moore would continue to be celebrated for throughout his lifetime (R. Crawford (foreword), Henry Moore War and Utility, London, 2006, p. 8).
By the summer of 1942 the government had begun to institutionalise the shelters, providing bunk beds and sanitation. For Moore this made the practice too routine and organised, removing the drama and strangeness which had first captivated him. Encouraged by Herbert Read Moore went to draw the coal miners at Wheldale Colliery, where his father had worked, a practice which left him with months of drawing material and ignited fresh ideas for sculpture, which he began sketching for in 1942. Highlighting the productivity of this period, Moore showcased a work of fifty of his drawings at Kurt Valentin's gallery in New York. Figures with architecture, 1943, bears a close resemblance to the work that he did in the London Underground and at Wheldale Colliery. Set against a black background, a series of figures emerge from the dark. The entwined forms on the far left and the figure to the right are tightly wrapped in a coat seated on a bench, harking back to his work in the shelters, with people camping down on the platforms for the night. They could also reference the role of the miner, 'Britain's Underground Army', who toiled in the darkshafts, wading through the choking dust and noise of the coal-cutting machinery, the coat perhaps a symbol of the workmen and the yellow light behind the figure illustrating the shine from the miners' lamps.
Moore used a variety of materials to create depth and atmosphere, finding that the wax crayon could be especially effective when combined with a dark wash of watercolour, a practice he accidently discovered in late 1930s when drawing for his young niece. Combining this with Indian ink and pencil to define his forms, Moore developed a striking chiaroscuro style that gave weight and solidity to his figures, an effect that is especially powerful in the present work. Ann Garrould reiterates, 'His watercolour sketches of thedarkened caves render space and atmosphere like a picture by Goya, but, as was to be expected, his renderings of the human body are given weight and substance and related to each other like great sculpture' (A. Garrould, Henry Moore Drawings, London, 1988, pp. 18-20).
The figures in the present lot are less defined than earlier examples of the shelter drawings; the interplay between abstraction and realism are heightened in Figures with architecture and Figure studies, 1942, in particular, which is seen on the recto. The latter sketch sees Moore's move back to sculpture, the sketch acting less as a finished work of art than as a working drawing, and an exploration into the depiction of human form. Turning towards domestic scenes in 1942 Moore concentrated on drawing his family members, building on the new sculptural motifs of mother and child and the reclining figure, which are seen in Figure studies. In both Figures with architecture and Figure studies there is a distinct move towards the three dimensional with the sketches losing the descriptive qualities of the shelter images, instead focusing on the presence and weight of form, with only thin washes of yellow or the build-up of black around the figures to ground them in space.