pdf / English / 1972 by David Mitchinson / 212 pages / 37.3 MB

In the work of every great artist there is an area that his public seldom sees—the notes, jottings, and drawings that contain his finished creations in embryo. These preparatory works are of the utmost importance to the study of art history, since they are often the key to the evolution of a work of art, indicating how a particular artist's vision is translated from germinal idea to final form.

In the case of Henry Moore, one of the great sculptors of our time, the discovery of more than 200 of his hitherto unpublished drawings is an exciting event not only for its historical significance but for the aesthetic joy the drawings evoke. Many of the sketches, taken from comprehensive notebooks and sketchbooks dating from 1921 to 1970, will delight the viewer with their independence as finished graphic statements, for Moore experimented extensively with ink, pencil, crayon, chalk, wash, and watercolor, alone and in innovative combinations. But it is ultimately Moore's purpose for these drawings that both fascinates and overwhelms us; here are the worksheets of his artistic vision, the raw material from which evolved the Mother and Child sculptures, the Reclining Figures, and the Family Groups. Wherever possible, the sculptor's written notations to the sketches have been included, since they afford a still deeper understanding of Moore's intense involvement with his subjects.

David Mitchinson's text adds a historical framework for the drawings, relating them to trends in Moore's art and to specific finished sculptures, thus extending the exploration of Moore's creative process so provocatively invited by the drawings themselves