Henry Moore 1898-1986
Mother and Child (Hollow), 1959
bronze
height 12½ inches
bronze, edition of 12

Provenance
Private Collection, UK

Exhibited
London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Henry Moore: An Exhibition of Sculpture from 1950-1960, November-December 1960, cat no.72 illus b/w
New York, Hofstra Museum, Mother and Child: The Art of Henry Moore, 1987, cat no.43 illus b/w touring to:
Pennsylvania, Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1988
Philadelphia, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, 1988
Baltimore, Baltimore Art Museum, 1988

Literature
Alan Bowness & Herbert Read, Henry Moore Complete Sculpture Vol 3, 1955-64, Lund Humphries, London 1986 cat no.453, plate 84 illus b/w



In the late fifties Moore made a series of sculptures which employed holes, and cave or arch-like shapes. Moore spoke of his fascination in naturally occurring spaces such as caves in hillsides and cliffs. In this bronze from 1959, the mother figure has transformed into just such a space. Her body shields the child in her lap, protecting it from harm, her face reduced to a pair of watchful eyes. As in the more abstract series of sculptures entitled Internal/External Forms made in 1951, the child figure is enclosed in a womblike space, which Moore also likened to " the stamen of a flower, that is something young and growing being protected by an outer shell ".