Henry Moore 1898 – 1986

etching and drypoint on Rives paper

31 × 24 cm

Edition 123 of 125

Printer: Imprimerie Lacourière, Paris
Publisher: Galerie Gérald Cramer, Geneva
Date published: 1971

Henry Moore: Prints and Portfolios

Literature: Henry Moore: Catalogue of Graphic Work 1931-1972, by Gérald CRAMER, Alistair GRANT and David MITCHINSON; 

Collections: Tate Public Collection

Henry Moore would often carve directly into the material, rather model and thereby abide with the notion of ‘truth to materials’ where the material guides the form created rather than having a preformatted idea. However, this etching indicates that there was occasional pre-thought to some of his sculptures. In this etching we see Moore exploring organic forms and makes three dimensional objects but they are contained within a two dimensional landscape. What we see in this etching is the imagination on paper and get a glimpse into his creative thought process before he would decide which idea he would commit to sculptural reality.