Sketch Model for Reclining Figure

Nearly all of Henry Moore’s sculptures before the early 1950s are based on preparatory drawings.  By the late 1930s, however, he established an additional, intermediary stage in the working process—which he called a “sketch-model”—executed before he made the final works.  This reclining figure is an early example of one of these small maquettes, which Moore usually modeled in soft clay or carved in hardened plaster. 

Unlike his two-dimensional studies on paper, these fully round models—ideal for holding in the hand and being rotated when examined—did not limit the sculptural conception to the few key points of views of the drawings: front, back, ends.  With the sketch-models, Moore was able to exploit the full potential of multiple views when developing a new freestanding sculpture.