Bird and Egg - YCBA Collections Search

Henry Moore, 1898–1986, British, Bird and Egg, 1934

Creator:: Henry Moore, 1898–1986
Title:: Bird and Egg
Date:: 1934
Medium:: Cumberland alabaster
Dimensions:: Overall: 8 1/8 × 22 × 9 1/4 inches (20.6 × 55.9 × 23.5 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: © Estate of the Artist
Accession Number:: B1984.6.3
Classification:: Sculptures
Collection:: Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:: abstract art | bird | egg | platform
Access:: Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1497
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Henry Moore emerged in the 1930s as one of the leading artists of his generation. Like his friend Paul Nash, Moore was exploring surrealism while resisting the temptation to indulge in the pure abstraction of Ben Nicholson and his fellow sculptor Barbara Hepworth. Moore favored organic forms, and the bold asymmetry found in Bird and Egg is bound up with his fundamentally representational approach. As he put it at the time: "Asymmetry is connected also with the desire for the organic (which I have) rather than the geometric." Like Nash and John Piper, he was also interested in the idea of place. Here he used a native stone, a green Cumberland alabaster, which was quarried within the British Isles and also had a long tradition of use in British sculpture. The young Moore felt that he should know and use native varieties of stone in preference to material acquired from abroad.

Gallery label for Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)

Created by Henry Moore (1898-1986), the artist, in 1934; purchased from the artist by Harold Diamond (1926-1982) New York, after 1946 [1]; acquired by George David Thompson (1899-1965) [a]; purchased by Lock Galleries, New York, at Parke-Bernet, New York, March 23-24, 1966 (lot 14, “Bird and Egg”), in “The collection of twentieth century paintings and sculptures formed by the late G. David Thompson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania” [b]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907-1999) in 1966 [c]; by whom gifted to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT in 1984 [d].

Notes:
[1] Herbert Read indicates in his study of Moore that this work was still in the artist’s collection at the time of the volume’s publication in 1946. See Herbert Read, “Henry Moore Sculpture and Drawings” London: Lund Humphries & Company Ltd., 1946. No, 38a, pp. XVI.

Citations:
[a] Duncan Robinson, “Henry Moore’s Bird and Egg” in John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor, Essays, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, pp. 321-7, fig. 1, p. 326, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA) https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:584043

[b] Parke-Bernet Galleries, Parke-Bernet Galleries Sale Catalogue : The Collection of Twentieth Century Paintings and Sculptures Formed by the Late G. David Thompson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : 23 March 1966, New York, March 23, 1966, pp. 26-27, Lot 14

[c] Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977-1986, Yale Center for British Art , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1986, pp. 21, no. 64, https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:583776

[d] Robinson, “Henry Moore’s Bird and Egg” p. 326

Marvelous Objects - Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian), 2015-10-15 - 2016-01-31) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Henry Moore (Barcelona) (CaixaForum, Fundacio "la Caixa", 2006-07-18 - 2006-10-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Henry Moore Retrospective (National Gallery of Art, 2001-10-21 - 2002-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Henry Moore Retrospective (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2001-06-24 - 2001-09-16) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Henry Moore Retrospective (Dallas Museum of Art, 2001-02-25 - ) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

20th Century Paintings and Sculpture (Yale Center for British Art, 2000-01-27 - 2000-04-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977-1986, Yale Center for British Art , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1986, pp. 9, 21, no. 64, fig. 13, N590.2 A7 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Maria Llui¨sa Borra`s, Henry Moore, Fundació "la Caixa", Barcelona, 2006, pp. 90, 204, no. LH 152, NJ18 M79 H45 2006 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Valerie J. Fletcher, Marvelous Objects : Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian), Washington, DC ; Mu¨nich, 2015, pp. 65, 67, no. 63, NB198.5 S8 +F54 2015 Oversize (HAAS) [ORBIS]

Robert Melville, Henry Moore : Sculpture and Drawings 1921-1969, Thames and Hudson, London, 1970, p. 343, pl. 107, NJ18 M79 +M45 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Parke-Bernet Galleries, Parke-Bernet Galleries Sale Catalogue : The Collection of Twentieth Century Paintings and Sculptures Formed by the Late G. David Thompson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : 23 March 1966, New York, March 23, 1966, pp. 26-27, Lot 14, J586 +966T Oversize (LSF) [ORBIS]

Herbert Read, Henry Moore Sculpture and Drawings with an Introduction by Herbert Read, Curt Valentin, New York, Plate 38a, J18 M79 +944R (LSF) [ORBIS]

Duncan Robinson, Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977 - 1986, , Burlington Magazine, vol. 128, October 1986, pp. 9, 21, no. 64, fig. 13, N1 B87 128:3 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Russell, Henry Moore, Putnam, New York, 1968, pp. 2, 5, pl. 2, NJ18 M79 +R78 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

David Sylvester, Henry Moore : Complete Sculpture, , v. 1-6, Lund Humphries, London, 1977 - 1999, p. 88 (v.1), no. 152 (v.1), , NJ18 M79 A12 B68 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor, Essays , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, pp. 321-7, fig. 1, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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