Description:Created approximately one year before his 85th birthday, Henry Moore continues to produce studies of bodily forms and light while using varying mediums of pen and charcoal. This intelligent and even elegant work appears to come off the page as its own sculptural form.
Finished in 1982, Henry Moore used charcoal and ballpoint pen on cream, lightweight, wove paper to create Sculptural Form. It is signed in the lower left by Moore in pencil.
Having been diagnosed with acute arthritis and chronic diabetes, physical ailments did not hinder Moore's artistic productivity; in fact, this period in his later years inspired him to re-think different mediums of art making as he begun to experiment with charcoal sketching. Such experiments can be seen with this particular piece as Moore "[held] his charcoal sketches under cold running water…[and] saw that the charcoal was dispersed over the entire page, giving a kind of nacreous sheen" (Garrould ix) . These techniques enabled him to successfully translate the medium of sculpture onto a 2-dimensional plane, allowing him to manipulate light with shading and the malleability of the medium of charcoal.
PROVENANCE:
Raymond Spencer Company
EXHIBITED:
1. Collegeville, Pennsylvania, A Passion for Art: Selection from the Berman Collection, 1989.
2. Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Henry Moore Relationships: Drawings, Prints, and Sculpture from the Philip Berman Collection, 1993-1994.
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
It is fully documented and referenced in (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that I will enclose with the sale of the work) :
1) Garrould, Ann, ed. Henry Moore, vol. 6 Complete Drawings 1982-83, London, 1994. Listed and illustrated on pg. 69 as cat. no. AG 82.226.
2) A Masterworks Fine Art, Inc. Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.
About the Framing:
Mounted in an elaborate, Spanish-style black and gold frame, this drawing is float-mounted against a white, linen-wrapped mat and set behind a Plexiglass cover. Framed to conservational standards, all materials used are archival to ensure lasting quality. Delicate carving around the perimeter of the frame also serve to accent Moore's Sculptural Form with its soft lines and curvy figures.
