In 1978, Moore described how he was alerted by John Skeaping
to a stock of Cumberland alabaster, unearthed by a farmer ploughing his fields.
Moore then bought ‘eight or nine rough blocks’ from the farmer, had them sent to
London in parcels, and used the alabaster for a series of carvings in the early
1930s.[1]
Of these, Girl with Clasped Hands (1930) would be acquired by the
British Council, Four-Piece Composition: Reclining Figure (1934) by the
Tate, Bird and Egg (1934) by Yale Center for British Art: Paul Mellon
Collection, and Mother and Child (1931) and Carving (1935) by the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

Although Moore had begun to use the white, translucent form
of alabaster in the late 1920s, he came to prefer pale-grey or brown Cumberland
alabaster for its greater density and opacity, cutting it to fit his ideas
rather than preserving any of its natural form. His decision to stop using it
stemmed partly from people’s enthusiastic response ‘to the beauty of the
material, to the exclusion of an understanding of the works’ essential – i.e.
their sculptural – character’.[2]

Despite their somewhat different colourings, it seems probable
that Moore’s Head (1931) and Hepworth’s Figure (1933) derive from
the same source of Cumberland alabaster. Head, smaller and more
brown in tone, features incised lines to indicate features and a lateral
piercing to separate hair from its neck. From this side view, Head also evokes
a jug with a handle: a supremely tactile form. Its first owner was the Japanese
artist Shuzaburo Yasuda, who studied sculpture at the Tokyo National College of
Art and visited Moore’s Hampstead studio in 1936.

[1] Richard Morphet, ‘Henry Moore:
Four-Piece Composition 1934’, in The Tate Gallery 1976–8: Illustrated
Catalogue of Acquisitions, London, 1979, p.117.

[2]
ibid., pp. 119, 118.

The Artist

Shuzaburo Yasuda, Tokyo (acquired from artist, c. 1936)

Private Collection USA c. 1990

Berkeley Square Gallery, London

Private Collection UK, 2006 (purchased from the above)

A. Bowness, ed., Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture, London,
1988, vol. 6, p.24, no. 105a (illustrated)

Henry Moore, Space and Form (exhibition catalogue), Osborne Samuel, London, 2021, p. 14

Henry Moore in Miniature, Holburne Museum, Bath,
curated by Chris Stephens, 3 May – 8 September
2024