Madonna and Child England, 20th century

Madonna and Child

1943

Henry Moore

(British, 1898–1986)

England, 20th century

pencil, black and white crayon, watercolor, and black ink

Sheet: 22.5 x 17.6 cm (8 7/8 x 6 15/16 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1947.685

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Description

This is a study for a stone sculpture in the Church of St. Matthew, Northampton, England. Moore once commented on the relationship between drawing and sculpure: "Every few months I stop carving for two or three weeks and do life drawing...Drawing and carving are so different that a shape or size or conception which ought to be satisfying in a drawing will be totally wrong realized as stone. Nevertheless there is a connection between my drawings and my sculpture. Drawing keeps one fit, like physical exercises---perhaps acts like water to a plant---and lessens the danger of repeating onself and getting into a formula. It enlarges one's form repertoire, one's form experience. But in my sculpture I do not draw directly upon the memory or observation of a particular object, but rather use whatever comes up from my general fund of knowledge of natural forms."