Reclining Figure by Henry Moore, 1898-1986

Henry Moore, 1898-1986
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Reclining Figure

Original etching with aquatint and drypoint. 1951/62/66. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the only edition of 50 impressions. Edition printed at the studio of Frélaut Lacourière, Paris, 1966. Issued by Cramer, Geneva, 1966.
Ref: Cramer - Henry Moore The Graphic Work No. 55.

Superb rich impression with tone. On pale cream wove Rives paper. Generally excellent condition; the very slightest trace of an old mount mark. Full margins. Sheet: 8½" x 12 1/8". Plate: 3" x 5 7/8" (76x150 mm).

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This outstanding study of a Reclining Figure is one of the most fascinating and striking etchings in Moore?s early graphic work. He first worked on the plate in 1951, when he created a fairly simple form in aquatint with some drypoint. However he did not pull an edition; in 1962, and then again in 1966 he returned to the plate, further working the aquatint and the drypoint and then highlighting the form through burnishing. The only edition, 50 impressions, was printed at Lacourière?s studio in Paris in 1966. As Moore developed the plate so the sculptural quality of the forms became more pronounced. In its final state, as here, it combines strongly three-dimensional form with a highly tactile quality of textural surface throught the very coarse-bitten aquatint, echoing the patinated and worked surfaces of his small bronze figures.

Moore was always seeking to emphasize the links between the forms of landscape and those for the human figure throught his ?Reclining Figure? motif. Those links are very apparent in this study, which despite its small scale has a very strong visual presence.