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Lot Essay
A tender evocation of motherhood, Mother with Child on Lap presents one of the most enduring motifs of Henry Moore’s art. Like the reclining figure, the theme of the mother and child dominated Moore’s oeuvre. “There are two particular motives or subjects which I have constantly used,” he once stated, “the ‘reclining figure’ idea and the ‘mother and child’ idea. Perhaps of the two the ‘mother and child’ has been the more fundamental obsession” (quoted in Mother and Child: The Art of Henry Moore, exh. cat., Hofstra Museum, New York, 1987, p. 27). A subject rich in art historical precedents and filled with iconographic meaning, the mother and child motif also allowed Moore to explore the spatial and physical relationships between two figures within a single work, sustaining his interest in both the potentialities of its meaning and its formal properties throughout decades of his output.
Moore first addressed the archetypal motif of the mother and child in 1922, later returning to the theme in 1943, when he was commissioned to produce a “Madonna and Child” for the Church of St. Matthew in Northampton. This sacred theme made Moore meditate on this subject, “The Madonna and Child should have an austerity and a nobility and some touch of grandeur (even hieratic aloofness) which is missing in the everyday Mother and Child,” he explained (quoted in D. Mitchinson, ed., Henry Moore Sculpture, with Comments by the Artist, London, 1981, p. 90). The resulting stone carving featured the Madonna seated in serene repose with the infant Christ in her lap, a composition which became the paradigm for many of the mother and child sculptures of later years, as exemplified by the present work. Though these works were not made with the same religious purpose, a similar sense of solemnity and grandeur often defines Moore’s later iterations of this subject.
Not long after completing this commission, Moore’s first and only daughter, Mary, was born. As the artist embarked upon fatherhood, his work on the theme of family and the mother and child was imbued with a new sense of emotion and understanding. “Of course, an artist uses experiences he’s had in life,” he later explained. “Such an experience in my life was the birth of my daughter Mary, which re-invoked in my sculpture my Mother and Child theme. A new experience can bring to the surface something deep in one’s mind” (quoted in J. Hedgecoe, ed., Henry Spencer Moore, London, 1968, p. 173). The subject came to dominate Moore’s work at various points throughout the rest of his career, most notably in the final decade of his life, which saw a rich outpouring of sculptures, such as the present work, as well as drawings and prints. It was perhaps the birth of his first grandchild in 1977 that inspired this resurgence, once again illustrating the personal resonance this theme had for the artist.
While deeply vested with personal and historical meaning, the subject of maternity also offered Moore the opportunity to explore the sculptural potentials of two variously scaled, often interconnected or interlaced figures. Moore affirmed in 1979: “…the subject itself is eternal and unending, with so many sculptural possibilities in it—a small form in relation to a big form, the big form protecting the small one, and so on. It is such a rich subject, both humanly and compositionally, that I will always go on using it” (quoted in A. Wilkinson, ed., Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 213). As Mother with Child on Lap demonstrates, Moore has relished the undulating forms of both figures, creating a range of curving lines that echo and repeat throughout the composition. In addition, he has explored the contrast between movement and stasis. The mother remains upright, statuesque and reassuringly immovable, the child by contrast seems to move in her lap, perhaps about to reach upwards or lurch forwards. A universal image of motherhood, these quotidian, seemingly instinctive details imbue the work with a tender sense of intimacy and individuality.
Cast in 1985 as part of an edition of nine, other casts from this edition of Mother with Child on Lap can today be found in the Hakone Open Air Museum and the Henry Moore Foundation, Much Hadham.
Moore first addressed the archetypal motif of the mother and child in 1922, later returning to the theme in 1943, when he was commissioned to produce a “Madonna and Child” for the Church of St. Matthew in Northampton. This sacred theme made Moore meditate on this subject, “The Madonna and Child should have an austerity and a nobility and some touch of grandeur (even hieratic aloofness) which is missing in the everyday Mother and Child,” he explained (quoted in D. Mitchinson, ed., Henry Moore Sculpture, with Comments by the Artist, London, 1981, p. 90). The resulting stone carving featured the Madonna seated in serene repose with the infant Christ in her lap, a composition which became the paradigm for many of the mother and child sculptures of later years, as exemplified by the present work. Though these works were not made with the same religious purpose, a similar sense of solemnity and grandeur often defines Moore’s later iterations of this subject.
Not long after completing this commission, Moore’s first and only daughter, Mary, was born. As the artist embarked upon fatherhood, his work on the theme of family and the mother and child was imbued with a new sense of emotion and understanding. “Of course, an artist uses experiences he’s had in life,” he later explained. “Such an experience in my life was the birth of my daughter Mary, which re-invoked in my sculpture my Mother and Child theme. A new experience can bring to the surface something deep in one’s mind” (quoted in J. Hedgecoe, ed., Henry Spencer Moore, London, 1968, p. 173). The subject came to dominate Moore’s work at various points throughout the rest of his career, most notably in the final decade of his life, which saw a rich outpouring of sculptures, such as the present work, as well as drawings and prints. It was perhaps the birth of his first grandchild in 1977 that inspired this resurgence, once again illustrating the personal resonance this theme had for the artist.
While deeply vested with personal and historical meaning, the subject of maternity also offered Moore the opportunity to explore the sculptural potentials of two variously scaled, often interconnected or interlaced figures. Moore affirmed in 1979: “…the subject itself is eternal and unending, with so many sculptural possibilities in it—a small form in relation to a big form, the big form protecting the small one, and so on. It is such a rich subject, both humanly and compositionally, that I will always go on using it” (quoted in A. Wilkinson, ed., Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Berkeley, 2002, p. 213). As Mother with Child on Lap demonstrates, Moore has relished the undulating forms of both figures, creating a range of curving lines that echo and repeat throughout the composition. In addition, he has explored the contrast between movement and stasis. The mother remains upright, statuesque and reassuringly immovable, the child by contrast seems to move in her lap, perhaps about to reach upwards or lurch forwards. A universal image of motherhood, these quotidian, seemingly instinctive details imbue the work with a tender sense of intimacy and individuality.
Cast in 1985 as part of an edition of nine, other casts from this edition of Mother with Child on Lap can today be found in the Hakone Open Air Museum and the Henry Moore Foundation, Much Hadham.