Reclining Figure
10868
Signed 'Moore' (lower right) in ballpoint pen
Verso inscribed 'Reclining Figure ' in pencil & numbered 10 (circled) in crayon
Charcoal, coloured pastel, gouache over random wash on blotting paper
Executed in 1982.
Moore's ailing health prevented him from creating new sculpture and led to intensive drawing activity during 1982/3. This is the last fully active period of his life when he revisited the major themes, such as reclining figures, that he had explored during his career. He produced a new effect by holding charcoal sketches under running water so that the charcoal was dispersed over the entire page. After drying them with blotting paper he applied watercolour washes of different colours which merged with each other on the damp page. Moore's lifelong interest in the human figure dominates his drawings. He would often remark, 'people think that they look but they don't really you know'.
British
Raymond Spencer Company. with Dennis Hotz Fine Art, Sandton, South Africa, 1983. Anonymous sale; Christie's, South Kensington, 18 March 1996, lot 139. Private collection, Milan.
A. Garrould (ed.), Henry Moore Complete Drawings 1982-83 Volume 6, London, 1994, p. 55, no. AG 82.162, HMF 82(170), illustrated.
Commemorative