UNESCO Reclining Figure 1957–58#Working model

{{Infobox artwork

| title = UNESCO Reclining Figure 1957–58

| wikidata = Q19759528

| image =

| image_upright = 1

| caption = In front of the World Heritage Centre in Paris in 1971

| artist = Henry Moore

| year = {{start date|1957}}

| catalogue = LH 416

| medium = Travertine

| height_metric =

| length_metric = 508

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

UNESCO Reclining Figure 1957–58 is a sculpture by Henry Moore. It was made in a series of scales, from a small plaster maquette, through a half-size working model made in plaster and cast in bronze (LH 415), to a full-size version carved in Roman travertine marble in 1957–1958 (LH 416).{{cite web |website=henry-moore.org |title=UNESCO Reclining Figure |url=https://catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/22804/unesco-reclining-figure|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216144145/https://catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/22804/unesco-reclining-figure |archive-date=16 December 2022}} The final work was installed in 1958 at the World Heritage Centre, the headquarters of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) at the Place de Fontenoy in Paris. This was Moore's last major public commission in which he created a new work for a specific site; he afterwards generally worked from an existing sketch or model.

Background

Moore was commissioned in 1955 to create a sculpture for the piazza in front of UNESCO's new headquarters in Paris, designed by the architect Marcel Breuer. Early ideas included groups of standing or seated figures, such as Draped Reclining Woman 1957–58 and Draped Seated Woman 1957–58, but he settled on a single and more abstract reclining figure for the UNESCO commission. Some of his early drawings are held by the British Museum.

Description

Moore took several maquettes to Paris in February 1957 for UNESCO representatives to select the best one. The selected sculpture depicts the abstracted form of a reclining female human figure, with recognisable arms, torso, and legs, and a disproportionately small head, with hollows representing eyes. Parallels can be drawn with his early stone Reclining Figure 1929 and his elmwood Reclining Figure 1935–6. Moore made the suggestion that the final work should be carved in white stone, to contrast with the dark windows of the building behind, rather than casting it in bronze as originally intended.

Working model

File:Moore Große liegende Frauenfigur 1957 Zürich.jpg

Moore completed a half-size working plaster model in August 1957, which measures {{convert|235|cm}}. This model was made by applying layers of plaster to an armature, the surface of which was then worked with chisels and other tools.

The plaster working model is held by the Art Gallery of Ontario. The working model (LH 415) was cast in bronze in edition of 7 (5 plus and artists copy, plus one extra cast made for the Tate Gallery), in 1959–1961: three at the Corinthian Art Bronze Foundry in London, two at {{ill|Fonderie Susse|fr}} in Paris, and two at the Hermann Noack foundry in Berlin. One example of the {{convert|730|kg}} bronze is held by the Tate Gallery (cast 2/5). Other examples are held in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Chicago Art Institute, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (cast 4/5), and the Kunsthaus Zürich (cast 5/5).

Full-size sculpture

The completed plaster working model was sent to the Société S. Henraux quarry at {{ill|Querceta|it}}, near Seravezza and close to Carrara in northern Italy, in September 1957, where it was copied as a full-size version using four large blocks of Roman travertine marble. Moore visited frequently to check on how the work was progressing, and to finish parts roughed out by the Italian workmen. He took his wife Irina and daughter Mary on one trip, and instituted a tradition of taking regular summer holidays in the area, later buying his own cottage.

File:UNESCO History, Moving Henry Moore sculpture - UNESCO - PHOTO0000002731 0001.tiff

The final sculpture (LH 416) was finished in mid-1958, over {{convert|16|ft}} long and {{convert|8|ft}} high, and weighing 38 tons, making it one of Moore's largest sculptures. It was installed near the new Y-shaped UNESCO building at the Place de Fontenoy in Paris in October 1958, and it was in place when the building was inaugurated the following month. The sculpture was moved in 1963, when UNESCO extended its offices, and it is now sited near Building IV.

References

[http://www.unesco.org/artcollection/NavigationAction.do?idOeuvre=3066 Moore, Henry (1898–1986), Reclining Figure], UNESCO works of art collection
[http://www.unesco.org/visit/uk/notices/moore.htm "Reclining Figure" (1958)], UNESCO
[http://www.ago.net/henry-moore-sculpture-centre The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512201122/http://www.ago.net/henry-moore-sculpture-centre |date=2017-05-12 }}, Art Gallery of Ontario
[http://catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/22804 UNESCO Reclining Figure, LH 416], Henry Moore Foundation
[http://catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/15124 Working Model for UNESCO Reclining Figure, LH 415 cast 4], Henry Moore Foundation
[http://catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/15493 Working Model for UNESCO Reclining Figure, LH 415 cast 0], Henry Moore Foundation
[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/11441?search_no=1&index=6 Maquette for UNESCO Reclining Figure, 1957], Art Institute Chicago
[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/henry-moore/henry-moore-om-ch-working-model-for-unesco-reclining-figure-r1171983 Henry Moore, Working Model for UNESCO Reclining Figure 1957, cast c. 1959–61], Tate Gallery
[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-working-model-for-unesco-reclining-figure-t00390 Working Model for UNESCO Reclining Figure], Tate Gallery
[https://books.google.com/books?id=pzqg4l-ce7oC&pg=PA71 Henry Moore – Writings and Conversations], pp. 71–72, 286–87

Category:1958 sculptures

Category:Outdoor sculptures in Paris

Category:Sculptures by Henry Moore

Category:Sculptures of women

Category:Stone sculptures in France

Category:UNESCO