Henry Moore: The Graphic Works

1 June - 31 August 2024

We are delighted to present an online viewing room that brings together a collection of graphic works by the modern artist Henry Moore, exploring the intersection between the artist's sculptures, drawings and prints. Henry Moore was a renowned British sculptor known for his iconic abstract sculptures that often depicted the human form. The impact of his artistic work extended beyond his practice of sculpture into other fields, such as printmaking.

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Henry Moore's exploration of printmaking began in the early 1930s when he was introduced to the medium by his fellow artist and friend, Graham Sutherland. He initially experimented with woodcuts but soon turned to etching, lithography, and other printmaking techniques, which became an integral part of his artistic practice - often using the medium to sketch out the ideas prior to making his sculptures.

While Moore is principally known for his sculpture - including monumental public sculptures placed across the world - etchings and lithographs are a more intimate and equally important element of his creative process. It formed an increasingly important part of Moore's practice from the 1970s onwards by working with masters printers to meet the growing international demand for his artistic work. A sinuous style and combined interest in the human figure, organic forms, and the landscape distinguishes Moore's printing practice.
Artworks
Henry Moore
Eight Reclining Figures, 1967
Lithograph printed in colors on Japan paper
76 x 55 cm
82.5 X 61.4 cm (Framed)
Edition of 100
£ 2,700.00 inc. VAT
'Drawing, even for people who cannot draw, even for people not trying to produce a good drawing, makes you look more intensely.'

- Henry Moore

'Henry Moore was always involved with drawing', says David Mitchinson, former Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Henry Moore Foundation. 'It was really the basis of his work. He had a drawing studio very close to his house, and he would go there most working days to work on sketchbooks or prints. He would make paints from sculpture, and vice versa - he would make prints with ideas that would later turn into sculpture.'
Artworks
Henry Moore
Eight Reclining Figures I, 1967
Original lithograph in colours on Japon nacré paper
Signed by the artist, lower right on recto
77 x 57 cm
H.C from an aside edition of 50
£ 1,900
‘I really began to want to do graphic work, or prints, when I discovered that one could change a print without losing what you’d got already.’
- Henry Moore
One of the critical aspects of Moore's artistic influence is his reimagining of the human figure. Moore's abstracted and simplified representations of the body challenged traditional notions of figurative art and expanded the possibilities of sculptural expression. His sculptures often featured curvilinear and biomorphic forms that conveyed a sense of vitality and movement, blurring the boundaries between the body and the surrounding space. Moore's approach to the human figure as a sculptural form rather than a realistic representation inspired a new vision and ways of depicting the human body, pushing the boundaries of figurative art in modern art and challenging conventional ideas of representation.

Moore's notable contribution to printmaking was his innovative approach to etching. He often experimented with different materials and techniques, such as using acid baths to create textures and patterns on the metal plates, which resulted in unique and expressive prints. Moore's etchings showcased his ability to capture his sculptural forms' sensuousness and tactile quality, translating them into two-dimensional prints. His graphic works often feature abstracted and simplified representations of the human figure, with smooth curves and flowing lines that evoke a sense of movement and grace.
Hovering between abstraction and figuration, Moore developed his own unique language of form. The human figure, enigmatically isolated or in relationship with others, is both the stimulus and the crux of all Moore’s works. For him, creating his sculptures was not so much an abstract exercise in looking at the human figure, but a personal investigation and violation of the artist’s own body: ‘When I carve into the chest,’ he commented, ‘I feel as if I were carving into my own.’
Moore's fascination with the natural world are reflected in his work. His prints feature earthy tones, textures and biomorphic shapes with references not only to the human form but also to natural forms such as shells, bones, and pebbles. Moore's organic and abstract forms, which often referenced the landscape, inspired many artists to explore the relationship between art and nature and to incorporate natural elements into their works. His deep connection to the countryside and his belief in the universality of natural forms resonated with the sentiments of modern art. Moore's prints conveyed a sense of timelessness and universality, capturing the essence of the natural world and the body in his distinctive style.

'For the sculptor, the perception of form is an interior sensation: he in fact perceives every shape, whatever its dimensions and its complexity. As though it were contained in the hollow of his hand, and mentally visualised in the multiplicity of its aspects.' - Henry Moore.
- Henry Moore, Prometheus on the Rock, 1950
- Henry Moore
  Violet Torso on Orange Stripes, 1967
  lithograph in four colours on Japon nacré paper
  
  Image: 16.5 x 19.7 cm
  Paper: 31 x 36.8 mm
  Edition of 75
  
  £ 1,950
Artworks
Henry Moore
Mother and Child, 1983
An important theme within the artist's œuvre was the Mother and Child, which he revisited in a variety of mediums ranging from sculpture to drawing. Moore managed to convey both the gravitas and timelessness of the traditional figurative pose of the Madonna and Child, and the intimacy and temporality of a mother holding her child in her lap. He further recounts his fascination of the motif as: 'From very early on I have had an obsession with the Mother and Child theme. It has been a universal theme from the beginning of time and some of the earliest sculptures we've found from the Neolithic Age are of a Mother and Child. I discovered when drawing, I could turn every little scribble, blot or smudge into a Mother and Child. (Later, I did the same with the Reclining Figure theme!) So that I was conditioned, as it were, to see it in everything. I suppose it could be explained as a 'Mother' complex.'
£ 1,900
Artworks
Henry Moore
Reclining Figure: Bone, 1982
The reclining figure was probably Moore's most important theme. It existed in his work from the 1920s until he died in 1986, manifesting itself in bronzes, carvings, graphics and textile designs. In much of his works on paper, Moore portrayed the melding of human figure with natural forms, and restful in pose, as well as monumental and powerful in appearance. These drawings are a mixture of imagination and observation, pulled from objects in his surroundings and his personal thoughts.

'I want to be quite free of having to find a 'reason' for doing the Reclining Figures, and freer still of having to find a 'meaning' for them." as Moore explains his relationship with the reclining figure, "The subject-matter is given. It's settled for you, and you know it and like it, so that within it, within the subject that you've done a dozen times before, you are free to invent a completely new form-idea.'
- Henry Moore
  Sculptures: Dark Interior, 1973
  Original lithograph on wove paper
  Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right on recto
  43 x 52 cm
  
  Edition of 75
  
  £ 1,900.00 inc. VAT
- Henry Moore, Three Seated Figures, 1975

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