A wooden sculpture of a partially divided ovoid form with a blunt, rounded end on a flat wooden base.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The sculpture made from a single block of wood and shows a smaller ovoid shape with a blunted edge set on an angle and has a small raised disc near the top edge. The center of the sculpture has been carved out but is joined at one end by a sloping indentation. The larger shape balloons out slightly at the base and is squared off at the top. The grain of the wood is visible, each section has small cracks on the top edges.

Gallery Text

Initially trained in traditional approaches to sculpture, Moore was exposed to modernism as a student at the Leeds School of Art after World War I. He associated with the surrealists in the early 1930s and shared their interest in psychology and their affinity for biomorphic shapes that rhythmically swell and retract in space. Moore believed that certain shapes were universal in their human significance, an idea he may have adapted from critic Roger Fry’s notion of “significant form.” The grain pattern of the wood, accentuated by the center division, imbues Carving with a sense of movement and organic growth. This attention to the natural properties of his material was a central concern for Moore in his early career.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1959.20
People
Henry Moore, British (Castleford, W. Yorks, U.K. 1898 - 1986 Much Hadham, Herts, U.K.)
Title
Form
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Carving
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1936
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/213822

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1310, Modern and Contemporary Art, Surrealism
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Elm
Dimensions
41.91 x 48.26 x 40.64 cm (16 1/2 x 19 x 16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
G. David Thompson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1959.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. G. David Thompson, in memory of his son, G. David Thompson, Jr., Class of 1958
Copyright
© Henry Moore Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1959
Object Number
1959.20
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Un Siecle de Sculpture Anglaise, exh. cat., Galerie National du Jeu de Paume (Paris, France, 1996), pp. 108-9

Exhibition History

  • Un Siecle de Sculpture Anglaise, Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 06/06/1996 - 09/15/1996
  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu