Two Piece Reclining Figure: No.2 combines the subjects of figure and landscape, with human forms dissolving into rocks and cliffs. The highly textured surface of the black, boulder-like forms suggest jagged cliffs, which rise up from the base like the eroded limestone coast at Durdle Door in Lulworth, Dorset. Though abstracted, the features of a reclining figure are also visible; a raised head, angular knees and feet planted firmly on the ground.
Moore’s interest in dismembered figures or bodies with missing parts dates to the 1930s; but in the series of large, two-piece reclining figures of 1959-61, of which this is the second, he recognised that he was using the spaces between the discrete forms more sculpturally than ever before – they were an integral part of the work. He also realised that by splitting the composition in two, the sculpture had a much closer relationship to landscape - knees and breasts become mountains, the expectation of a naturalistic representation of human form is removed and many different views become possible.