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| Draped Reclining Woman 1957–58 | |
|---|---|
 At the Skulpturenpark Pinakotheken in Munich | |
| Artist | Henry Moore |
| Year | 1957-1958 |
| Catalogue | LH 431 |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 185 cm (73 in) |
Draped Reclining Woman 1957–58 (LH 431)[1] is a bronze sculpture by British artistHenry Moore, with a series of six castings (plus an artists cast, 0/6) made byHermann Noack in Berlin.[2]
The sculpture depicts a female figure in a reclining position on its right side, with its weight supported on its right hand and right leg. The left hand rests on the left thigh, with the left knee slightly raised but feet together. The drapery emphasises the female figure, but the facial features are abstracted and barely picked out, with two holes for eyes.
Henry Moore was awar artist inWorld War II. He made a series drawings of people sheltering fromThe Blitz in theLondon Underground, usually swathed in thick clothes. These drawings sparked an interest indrapery which was renewed by theclassical sculptures that Moore saw during a 1951 trip to Greece. He was attracted by the ability of the drapery to draw attention to some parts of the human form by lying tightly on the shoulders, thighs or breasts while concealing other parts where the wrapping falls slack, and also by the varied textures created by small and large folds in the material.
Moore made a series of sculptures of draped human forms in the 1950s after he was commissioned to create a sculpture for the newUNESCO Headquarters building in Paris. He wanted to create a figure in an architectural context, and turned to the seated human form. HisDraped Reclining Figure, 1952–53 was a precursor to these later draped figures. He completed the first major work in the series in 1955, with amaquette,Draped Seated Woman: Figure on Steps (LH 427), cast in a series of 10. This became the working model for the full–size sculpture that became hisDraped Seated Woman 1957–58. The reclining figure is a dominant theme of Moore's work, with perhaps half of his sculptures in a reclining position. He made a similar work in a reclining position,Draped Reclining Woman 1957–58. Moore ultimately abandoned these ideas for the UNESCO commission, and hisUNESCO Reclining Figure 1957-58 (LH 416) is a much more abstract reclining form intravertine.
Moore's sculpture depicts a female figure in a reclining position. It measures approximately 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long. It is usually displayed mounted on a flat bronze or stone base.
Seven casts of the completed sculpture were made for sale, numbers 1 to 6, plus an artist's cast (0/6). They are currently displayed in the UK, Germany and the US:
The only cast to remain in private hands (5/6) was sold at Christie's in London in June 2008 for nearly £4.3m, from the estate ofJ. Irwin Miller and his wifeXenia Simons Miller, formerly displayed at theMiller House and Garden inColumbus, Indiana.
The German copies are known asDie Liegende (The Recliner) orDie Grosse Liegende (The Large Recliner).
The original plaster model was given to the Henry Moore Sculpture Center at theArt Gallery of Ontario in Toronto in 1974.
