Sold for: $37,250

PROVENANCE
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal
Waddington & Gorce Inc., Montreal
Acquired from the above by the present Important Private Collection, Montreal, then California

LITERATURE
Alan Bowness, editor, Henry Moore, Complete Sculpture and Drawings, Volume 4, Sculpture 1964 - 73, 1977, reproduced page 53, catalogue #589
Christa Lichtenstern, Henry Moore: Work - Theory - Impact, 2008, page 206, the large 1955 bronze Upright Motive: Maquette No. 1, in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, reproduced page 206, and the large bronzes Upright Motive No. 7 and Upright Motive No. 2, both 1955 – 1956, in the collection of Tate Britain, London, reproduced page 204

Christa Lichtenstern wrote that Will Grohmann discussed internationally renowned British sculptor Henry Moore’s Upright Motive works in his 1960 monograph. He drew on discussions with Moore and his friends, indicating, “They are sometimes known as ‘Scottish crosses,’ after the tall crosses in Scotland, Ireland and Wales dating from the Middle Ages.” The abstracted form of these sculptures has features in common with Irish high crosses and relates to “a particular type of Irish cross where it is as though the body of Christ has become one with the cross,” as Lichtenstern writes. However, other writers felt that these sculptures related to Moore’s interest in primitive art from non-Western cultures that he saw in the British Museum. Moore also said that the piled shapes in his upright maquettes reminded him of North American totem poles, although this realization seemed more an association after the fact. Clearly the Upright Motive works had the kind of universality of association that gave Moore’s work such resonance.

Moore produced Upright Motive works throughout the 1950s and 1960s, both as small sculptures such as this evocative work and large-scale sculptures installed in public spaces.

The marble base measures 4 x 3 7/8 x 1 7/8 inches.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars