HENRY MOORE O.M., C.H. (BRITISH 1898-1986)
DRAPED SEATED GIRL, c.1930
signed (lower right), charcoal, chalk, watercolour wash and pen and ink on paper
43.7cm x 30.5cm (17 1/4in x 12in)
Ralph Keene, London, acquired c.1946, and thence by descent;Sotheby's, London, 19 October 1988, lot 365;Gillian Jason Gallery, London, acquired in 1988;Christie's, London, 28 November 1989, lot 207;Berkeley Square Gallery, London;The Estate of Leonard Newman;Their sale, Sotheby's New York, Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, 5 November 2009, lot 225, where acquired by the present owner.
Exhibited:Venice, XVIIIe Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, 1930, no.53;Tate Gallery, London, Sculpture and Drawings by Henry Moore, 2 May-29 July 1951, no. 5.Literature:Garrould, Ann (ed.), Henry Moore - Complete Drawings, 1930-39, London, 1998, vol. II, no. AG 30.28 (HMF 763), illustrated in black & white, p. 23.‘The majority of art critics and art historians regard the years 1930-39 as the most inventive decade of Moore’s long career as an artist. It was also one of the most productive…Throughout the decade he was also teaching in London, first at the Royal College of Art until the end of 1930, then at Chelsea School of Art…When the decade began, Moore had been married for just five months. Hardly surprisingly he began drawing Irina, the girl whom he ‘had married for her beautiful shoulders’, as he often said in later years. The drawings of Irina standing, sitting, lying in her bath in their Hampstead studio flat continued until 1935. She had a remarkable ability to sit motionless for long periods, creating a focal point of stillness and tranquillity around herself. This quality, combined with her natural grace, made her a perfect model.’ (Ann Garrould, ‘Introduction’, ed. Ann Garrould, Henry Moore Complete Drawings Volume 2 1930-39, Lund Humphries, London, 1998, p. xiii)