Henry Moore Artwork Catalogue
Spotlight: Blood from a stone
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Bib. Number0021760
Spotlight: Blood from a stone
Author/EditorCORK Richard
PublisherThe Independent on Sunday
Place PublishedLondon
Year2010
Date & Collation2010(14 Feb)
LanguageEnglish
More InformationOn the eve of a major retrospective, Richard Cork recalls the extraordinary day he called on the sculptor Henry Moore - and opened some old wounds. Cork recounts his visit to Perry Green in 1981 to engage Moore in a conversation about the West Wind relief carving for the St. James' Underground station.
I soon noticed that, while Moore was talking, his arms and hands never stopped moving. Everything he said was backed up by restless physical gestures - not bombastic but unexpectedly gentle, even feminine. And once, when emphasising how "central" the umbilical was in his sculpture, he clutched dramatically at the protruding flesh around his stomach. (I was impressed by the sense that everything he said mattered a great deal).
Five Moore illus:
West Wind 1928-29 Portland stone, (LH 58)
Ideas for the West Wind Sculpture 1928 drawing, (HMF 646)
UNESCO Reclining Figure 1957-58 Roman Travertine marble, (LH 416)
Large Upright Internal/External Form 1981-82 bronze, (LH 297a)
Standing Figure 1950 fibreglass, (LH 290).
Details of how Moore carved the West Wind Figure, and his disagreement with the Royal Academy over the Epstein relief, and his opinion of Alfred Munnings; "He used to carry a photograph of my Northampton Madonna and Child around in his pocket, and show it to people in order to mock it."