Henry Moore Complete Drawings 1916-86: Volume 4: Complete Drawings 1950-76

Volume 4 in the complete catalogue of Henry Moore’s drawings covers the period 1950 to 1976. Its publication marks the completion of the chronological catalogue of Moore’s drawings. Although Moore’s overwhelming preoccupation during this period was his sculpture, he nevertheless found time to experiment with different media, drawing with felt-tipped pens and brush-and-ink on tissue paper laid down on normal-weight drawing paper, for example. He also painted on blotting paper, using random offset patches of watercolour as a starting-point for his imagination – which never faltered, despite the increasing physical frailty which beset him during the 1970s as his eightieth birthday approached. This volume is the largest in the series and features about 2000 entries and accompanying illustrations. Its compilation has been a research challenge: in the course of the twenty-six years covered by this volume Moore used many notebooks, some large, some very small, some begun in one year and then laid aside, forgotten or indeed mislaid until the artist took them up again several years later. When exhibitions were planned, or dealers requested drawings, Moore would tear pages out of the notebooks, and these were often only minimally catalogued before being sold on to galleries or collectors around the world. The considerable research work which has gone into establishing the chronology and media of the drawings in this volume will therefore be welcomed by Moore scholars worldwide.