‡Henry Moore OM

‡Henry Moore OM, CH (1898-1986)

Hand Relief No. 1

Bronze, with green patination, conceived in 1952 and cast in 1956 in an edition of nine plus one artist's proof

33.5 x 35 cm

This work is registered with the Henry Moore Foundation, no. LH 354

Provenance:

Either Laing Gallery, Toronto or Marlborough Gallery, Montreal;

where purchased by Benjamin Luxenberg Q.C., Toronto;

by descent to Leon Root, New York

Literature:

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, 1949-54, vol. 2, (Lund Humphries, London), no. 354 (another cast illustrated but incorrectly labelled as no. 355)

According to Moore the present work is a 'study for the hands on a larger work, actually of the King and Queen, 1952/53. When I was making the large version of the King and Queen, and getting to working on the hands in detail, I got a little stuck with them, and contrary to any previous practice, I felt I needed to have a model of a real hand. And so I asked my wife to come into the studio and hold her hand in the position I required - she posed for about a quarter of an hour and then said she couldn't stay any longer as the lunch she was cooking needed her attention. I then asked Mary, my daughter who was six years old, to come and hold her hand in the position I wanted, and in this way I was helped in completing the hands of the full-size sculpture.' (Henry Moore, letter to Allan D. Emil, 21 October 1966, reprinted in Alan Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Aldershot 2002, p.283)