Standing Figure Relief No 2, 1960
Bronze
Inscribed 'Moore' and stamped with the foundry mark H. Noack Berlin.From the edition of 12
26.0 cm (10¼ inches) High

Literature:
Henry Moore: Volume 3 Complete Sculpture 1955 - 64, Alan Bowness, (London : Lund Humphries, 1986), 461

Notes:
In 1956 Moore was commissioned to create a monumental sculpture to be sited outside the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Thus began a sequence of remarkably inventive works in which the artist examined the particular issues surrounding the provision of context for a sculpture. During this process he began to incorporate into the sculptures his own wall shapes. Although the final UNESCO reclining figure stands alone before the giant building Moore did return to the concept of a supporting or surrounding wall, before which he placed standing or seated figures often in relief. Although they stand alone the Standing Figure Relief sculptures of the 1960s belong to this genre but are also evidence of a new departure in his work of that time towards more complex and powerful forms, vigorously moulded figures that seem to emanate from deep within the psyche of the artist. In this sculpture Moore takes the female figure and concentrates his modelling on the parts of the body he wishes to emphasise: the nobility of the head, the strength in the shoulders and upper torso.
POA