Henry Moore Artwork Catalogue
Working Model for Sundial
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Working Model for Sundial
Date1965
Artwork TypeSculpture
Catalogue NumberLH 527 cast i
Mediabronze
Dimensionsartwork (height / diameter): 51.5 × 49.5 cm
Signature
stamped Moore, unnumbered
OwnershipThe Henry Moore Foundation: gift of Sir Denis Hamilton 1986
More Information
Henry Moore
sited Working Model for Sundial so
that it could be seen from the sitting room of his home, Hoglands. Many of the
sculptures at Perry Green regularly came and went in a frenetic programme of
worldwide exhibitions, but this sculpture was one of the few which remained
stationary, sited serenely on an expanse of green lawn, close to an apple tree,
within view of where Henry and Irina entertained or sat and talked.
In 1966, Gavin Astor, owner of The Times, commissioned Moore to create a large version of Working Model for Sundial for their new building in Blackfriars, London. Moore created this work based on a heliochronometer, the earliest known time-keeping device in which a bar casts a shadow on a calibrated scale. The chief architect of the new building, Richard Llewelyn-Davies, constructed a preliminary model in cardboard, about twenty centimetres high, to illustrate the principle. From this Moore produced a maquette about twice as high, then a wooden model from which a plaster cast was taken. The model was shipped to Noack foundry in Berlin where the production in bronze started.
The final sculpture, Sundial 1965-66 (LH 528), measured over 3.5 metres. On 23 November 1967, the work was unveiled on The Times forecourt in London. It had been carefully positioned in the south-facing courtyard with advice from Dr F.A.B. Ward of the Science Museum, who acted as a technical consultant. Following the sale of the building to The Observer in 1974, the sculpture was acquired by IBM for their site in Brussels. In 2011, the cast was sold to Kunsthalle Würth, and is now located outside Forum Würth Rorschach in Switzerland. The only other full size cast is sited outside the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum in Chicago.
In 1966, Gavin Astor, owner of The Times, commissioned Moore to create a large version of Working Model for Sundial for their new building in Blackfriars, London. Moore created this work based on a heliochronometer, the earliest known time-keeping device in which a bar casts a shadow on a calibrated scale. The chief architect of the new building, Richard Llewelyn-Davies, constructed a preliminary model in cardboard, about twenty centimetres high, to illustrate the principle. From this Moore produced a maquette about twice as high, then a wooden model from which a plaster cast was taken. The model was shipped to Noack foundry in Berlin where the production in bronze started.
The final sculpture, Sundial 1965-66 (LH 528), measured over 3.5 metres. On 23 November 1967, the work was unveiled on The Times forecourt in London. It had been carefully positioned in the south-facing courtyard with advice from Dr F.A.B. Ward of the Science Museum, who acted as a technical consultant. Following the sale of the building to The Observer in 1974, the sculpture was acquired by IBM for their site in Brussels. In 2011, the cast was sold to Kunsthalle Würth, and is now located outside Forum Würth Rorschach in Switzerland. The only other full size cast is sited outside the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum in Chicago.
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