Henry Moore
Reclining Figure: Hand, 1979
Cast bronze
Gift of Louise and S.O. Beren, Mildred and Allen Staub, and MISCO Charitable Trust through the generosity of the artist
Moore embraced abstraction precisely for its ability to experiment with form. For instance, from one viewpoint, Reclining Figure: Hand looks like a woman with her elbow on her bent knee. From another, it looks like the figurehead on the bow of ship, and the knees transform into waves pushing the ship across the sea.
Moore’s figures often assert a sense of movement, despite the fact that the human body is stable and static when reclining. The volumes of his forms seem to surge and grow organically. Critic Ed Newton described one of Moore’s sculptures by saying, “it has a continuous liquid flow from end to end. Waves of movement run up the legs, rising like the swell of the sea, swinging round from front to back…thinning down to slim, rounded ridges, hardening and thickening into solid blocks, rising to a climax in the half-hollowed head….”
Nature also inspired Moore. He meant for his figures to be seen outside, juxtaposed against and responding to the land around them. The sculptures themselves even look like landscapes. The raised knees of Reclining Figure resemble rolling hills from certain angles.