Henry Moore O.M., C.H.

(British, 1898-1986)

Animal Head 53 cm. (20 7/8 in.) high

Footnotes

Provenance
Private Collection, Paris, where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Henry Moore, 85th Birthday Exhibition, 15 June-13 August 1983, cat.no.20 (another cast)

Literature
Herbert Read, Henry Moore: A Study of his Life and Work, Thames and Hudson, London, 1965, p.226, cat.no.211 (ill.b&w)
John Hedgecoe and Henry Moore, Henry Spencer Moore, Thomas Nelson and Sons, London, 1968, p.265 (ill.b&w)
Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore: Complete Sculpture Volume 3, 1955-1964, Lund Humphries, London, 1986, p.25, cat.no.396 (ill.b&w)
Alan G. Wilkinson, Henry Moore Remembered, Key Porter Books, Toronto, 1988, p.166, cat.no.116
John Hedgecoe, A Monumental Vision: The Sculpture of Henry Moore, Collins & Brown, London, 1998, p.220, cat.no.362 (ill.b&w)
David Mitchinson (ed.), Celebrating Moore: Works from the Collection of The Henry Moore Foundation, Lund Humphries, London, 2006, p.250, cat.no.178 (col.ill.)

As Reinhard Rudolph asserts, Henry Moore's sculptural principles dictated a three-dimensionality (David Mitchinson (ed.), Celebrating Moore: Works from the Collection of The Henry Moore Foundation, Lund Humphries, London, 2006). Paramount to each conception was a front, a back and two sides. This concept seems familiar enough; after all, the fundamental difference between sculpture and painting or drawing is surely the occupation of genuine space, rather than the illusion of it. But for Moore, spatial depth wasn't enough – he wanted to place his work wholly in the real world, where the viewer could walk around it and take in all angles and perspectives. Rudolph cites three exceptions to this creed: Three Forms Relief, Wall Relief (see the following lot), and the present work, Animal Head, all executed in 1955. Quite what prompted this rather dramatic departure from precedent at this particular time is unclear, but the result for Animal Head is a decisive direction, an active move towards the viewer that is unachievable in more four-sided works. It has been suggested that Moore was inspired by the gargoyles that jut out from the cathedrals of Paris' Île de la Cité, the spell-binding Sainte-Chapelle and, of course, the Notre Dame. Animal Head certainly evokes these symbols of the Gothic movement to an extent, but it has a uniqueness and crypticity that opaques any attempt to isolate a single inspiration.

This air of mystery, brought about in part by the asymmetry of the work, seems to evolve as you cross from left to right. From the left-hand profile, the head feels distinctly pre-historic, with the angular protrusion of the cheekbone and the shape of the snout evoking a distant, now-extinct beast. Moore engaged with history passionately, as is hinted at by the previous lot, and a nod towards creatures of the past thus seems in character. But as you move to the smoother right-hand profile, the head feels more equine. The mystery starts to dissipate, giving way to the familiarity of a horse leaning over a stable door, mouth gently open as if to receive food from a doting owner. The hollow eyehole that runs through the bronze adds to the fluctuating atmosphere as you round the piece. The light coming through from the other side, creating a mystical, timeless feel in profile, is eclipsed by the dark of the tunnel as you slowly move round, bringing the Animal Head to life vividly.

An interesting comparison is drawn to Moore's work of 1980, Horse's Head, some twenty-five years after the present work. While less titularly cryptic, and thus with less of an air of mystery, Horse's Head arguably has less of the distinctive, familiar feel that Animal Head captures from the right-hand profile. It is this dynamic between the familiarity from some angles and the mystery from others that intrigues so tantalisingly in Animal Head. This is energised by a dynamism and decisiveness emerging from a single point of origin, an unseen rear, that is so rare in Moore's sculpture.