1965.2 Moore, Two Piece Reclining Figure

Moore found that the reclining figure offered endless possibilities for the exploration of the human and organic form. He explained: "I think the reclining figure gave me a chance, a kind of subject matter, to create new forms within it." [1] He fragmented the figure in order to suggest forms of landscape. Referring to his work as a "metaphor for the human relationship with the earth," [2], Moore explained: "I realized what an advantage a separated, two-piece composition could have in relating figures to landscape."[3] Moore's reclining figures became increasingly mountainous and fractured, while still retaining unity; the forms in sculptures such as Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 2, 1960, were severed like rock and cliff faces drifting apart. Emphasis is on the separation of the two forms and the resulting activation of the space created between them. By breaking down the figure, he allowed the surrounding landscape to to penetrate it visually and physically. Despite Moore's fragmentation and engulfment of the figure within landscape, when his sculptures are sited in open air they appear at ease in their surroundings; it is a contradiction that lends a subtle complexity to Moore's later work. 

[1] Artist's statement for the exhibition Henry Moore: Drawings, Gouaches, Watercolours, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, May—June 1970. 

[2] Text of an interview with Moore on the television program Monitor; reprinted in part in Philip James, Henry Moore on Sculpture (London: Macdonald,1966), 266.  

[3] Carlton Lake, "Henry Moore's World," Atlantic Monthly 209, no. 1 (January 1962): 39–45. 

Moore_Henry: ULAN: 500032596

bronze: AAT: 300010957

casting (process): AAT: 300053104

twentieth century (dates CE): AAT: 300404514

modernist (European style): AAT: 300021474

bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

odalisques: AAT: 300249146

public art: AAT: 300056501

monumental: AAT: 300073760

By October 27, 1964: Gimpel Fils, Ltd. (Peter Gimpel), London, acquired from Henry Moore

1965: Dallas Art Association, purchase from above

The main source for this provenance is the letter from Peter Gimpel, of Gimpel Fils, Ltd., to James H. Clark, Esq., of Dallas, Texas, dated October 27, 1964. Exceptions and supporting documentation are noted. 

[1] The Dallas Arts Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1965.2