The Lefevre Gallery (Alex. Reid &🥂amp; Lefevre), London

Acquired from the above by t﷽he present owner in October 1983

Henry Moore, The Reclining Figure (exhibition catalogue), Colombus 💝Museum of Art, 1984-85, no. 76, illustration of another cast p. 107

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, Volume 6, Sculpture 1980-86𝔍, London,&nbsꦉp;1988,  no. 832, illustration of another cast p. 45 and pls. 78 & 79 (with the length dimension 91.5 cm)

Henry Moore, 1898-1986 (exhibition catalogue), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1992, no. 182, il🔜lustra✨tion of another cast in color 

Alan Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, Volume 6, Sculpture 1980-86, London, 1998,  no. 832, illustration of ano🍸the𝓡r cast p. 45 and pls. 78 & 79 (with the length dimension 91.5 cm)

Bronze with green patina. The patina on the figure's left arm and leg have been slightly rubbed, but over all this work is in excellent condition.
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The reclining figure, explored in this elegant work from 1982, is probably the single most iconic image of Henry Moore's oeuvre.  Initially inspired by Mexican sculpture, this subject recurs throughout the artist's career, ranging from organic forms to near-abstract, geometric ones, and including several monumental versions.  Writing about Moore's large outdoor sculptures, David Sylvester commented:  "They are made to look as if they themselves had been shaped by nature's energy.  They seem to be weathered, eroded, tunnelled-into by the action of wind and water.  The first time Moore published his thoughts about art, he wrote that the sculpture which moved him most gave out 'something of the energy and power of great mountains' [...] Moore's reclining figures are not supine; they prop themselves up, are potentially active.  Hence the affinity with river-gods; the idea is not simply that of a body subjected to the flow of nature's forces but of one in which those forces are harnessed" (D. Sylvester, Henry Moore, New York and London, 1968, p. 5).

This particular reclining figure exhibits one of the most graceful and spatially dynamic poses in all of Moore's repertoire.  Propped up by one elbow and bending her knees into a dramatic arch, the figure exemplifies Moore's astute eye for the most alluring silhouettes of the human body.  Reclining Figure, Open Pose was cast in edition of nine in 1982, and the present bronze is number nine from that edition.  Other casts are in the collections of the Henr🧸y Moore Foundation, the N♔elson-Atkins Museum of Art, Hall Family Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri and in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.