Reclining Figure: Holes. 1982.
Bronze with brown patina. Mounted on bronze plinth.
Moore. Catalogue raisonné, volume 6, no. 857. With name on plinth, number as well as foundry mark Gießerstempel "Noack Berlin". One of 9 copies. Without plinth ca. 4,7 x 12,5 x 4 cm (1,8 x 4,9 x 1,5 in). Plinth: 1,2 x 12,7 x 5,6 cm (0,4 x 5 x 2,2 in).

What is characteristic of Henry Moore's plastic are the seemingly archaic heavy and earthen forms. His reclined figures seem to just have emerged from the ground and remain rooted. The physicalness that Moore emphasized by retracting the individual expression, defines his sculpture's overall structure. Even in his small maquettes the artist is guided by the forms of a large conceived physicalness. As this bronze shows, the small formats also have a tendency towards a certain monumental look, however, without lapsing into an artificial monumentality. Moore's plastics are less spatial, as they already carry space within them. Based on an insisting form language, they hold their ground in their closeness. Even though close to abstraction, Moore stays true to the traditions of his artistic means. But in contrast to the classic array of forms, the artist emphasizes the creatural in his plastic. Henry Moore's style that combines figuration and abstraction has greatly influenced European sculpting of the first period after World War I. [KP].