The modernist sculptor Henry Moore, who carved and cast abstract, open-form biomorphic sculptures in the early twentieth century, spoke of drawing as essential to physical and creative vitality and as a repository for excess ideas, a way of containing thoughts for sculpture on a page. “Six Studies for Sculpture” exemplifies for the later realized “Recumbent Figure” (1938; Tate Gallery, London) and a fully worked-up composition using pencil, wax crayon, colored crayon, gouache, watercolor, pen, and ink. The dark background of the work gives it a moody weight, although the point for Moore was to use drawing’s fundamental qualities of speed and flexibility to explore new visual motifs. As Anne Wagner commented in 2010, “Moore used graphic media time and again to enumerate, catalogue and compare. He pursued an idea of the individual drawing as an archive; its smooth surface allowed the accumulation of evolving thoughts and observations, with each grouping--each form family--the record of a specific enquiry as a sequence in time.”
Object Description
From: Joachim Homann
Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 5:12 PM
To: Michelle Henning , "Laura J. Latman (work)"
Subject: Re: Henry Spencer Moore, BCMA accession # 2011.28
Dear Michelle, dear Laura,
This is of utmost importance, since it completely changes the interpretation and also the value of this work. It was offered to Kevin as a drawing from 1957, but he realized that it must have been earlier and that the seller made a mistake. To have the confirmation from the estate is wonderful. Thanks for forwarding this clarifying message. We need to make sure to make the change in the catalogue and in the database.
Best,
Joachim
--
Joachim Homann, Ph.D.
Curator
Bowdoin College Museum of Art
9400 College Station
Brunswick, ME 04011
Ph: ++1.207.725.3064
Email: jhomann@bowdoin.edu
--------------------------------
From: Michelle Henning
Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 4:54 PM
To: "Laura J. Latman (work)" , Joachim Homann
Subject: Henry Spencer Moore, BCMA accession # 2011.28
Hi Laura and Joachim,
As per Charlotte Bullions, Archive Resource and Licence Coordinator for the Henry Moore Foundation, our designation of the verso and recto are incorrect, and and the title for the (as per Foundation correct) recto of the work in our collection is Thirteen Sketches. The correct date of the works should also be changed to 1937:
As per Moore Foundation:
Verso : Six Studies for Sculpture
Recto: Thirteen Sketches
Date: 1937
Current BCMA object record/caption:
Henry Spencer Moore, Six Studies for Sculpture (recto), Figure Studies (verso) (Double Sided), 1940-1941, pencil,wax crayon,colored crayon,watercolor wash,pen&ink on paper, 10 3/16 in. x 8 1/8 in. (25.91 cm x 20.57 cm), Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2011.28.
Let me know if/what you wold like me to do with this info.
Michelle
—
Michelle M. Henning/Assistant to the Registrar
Bowdoin College Museum of Art
9400 College Station
Brunswick, Maine 04011
Tel: 207-725-3873, Fax: 207-725-3762
E-mail: mhenning@bowdoin.edu
