Collections Database

Label Text:
The sculptor Henry Moore took the human figure as a point of reference throughout his career, although he often reduced the figurative qualities to a minimum. With their indeterminate lines, colors, and tones, and various artistic media, his Female Figures seem both to emerge from and dissolve into the background. Unlike the works of his friend, Barbara Hepworth, his shapes and volumes convey the vital force of an unconscious energy. As Moore once described works of this kind: “My drawings are done mainly as a help towards making sculpture – as a means of generating ideas for sculpture, tapping oneself for the initial idea: and as a way of sorting out ideas and developing them. Also, sculpture compared with drawing is a slow means of expression and I find drawing a useful outlet for ideas which there is not time enough to realize as sculpture. And I use drawing as a method of study and observation of natural forms (drawings from life, drawings of bones, shells, etc.).” BJ

Tags:
lines; figures; gray

Subjects:
Crayon drawing; lines (artistic concept); figures (representations)

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1959.139

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.