Standing Figure: Knife Edge

Standing Figure: Knife Edge is a bronze sculpture by the English artist Henry Moore. It was cast in two full-size versions: Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482) in 1961, and a larger Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482a) in 1976. The sculpture also is sometimes known as Standing Figure (Bone) or Winged Figure.

Standing Figure: Knife Edge
At the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2007
ArtistHenry Moore
Year1961
CatalogueLH 482
MediumBronze
Dimensions280 cm (110 in)

Moore first conceived the work in 1961. It is based on a fragment of a bird's breastbone, to which a base and a head were added with plasticine. A rounded protrusion forms the head, and the figure has a diagonal line at its waist. The resulting composition resembles a human torso, similar to the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It had been described as the end point of Moore's investigation of upright figures, which started with Standing Figure (1950) (LH 290). He used a similar process, starting with bone fragments, for his 1962 work, Knife Edge Two Piece.

The sculpture was enlarged in three stages. First, Moore made a 162.5 centimetres (5 ft 4.0 in) high working model (LH 481) in 1961. The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green, Hertfordshire, has two versions, one in plaster and another in fibreglass,[1][2] and other examples are held by the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan,[3] and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC.[4]

Standing Figure (1950)

Second, Moore made the 2.8 metres (9 ft 2 in) high Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482), cast at the Morris Singer art foundry in 1961 in an edition of 7 (6 plus 1 artist's copy). The artist's copy, cast 0, is displayed in the W. B. Yeats Memorial Garden at St Stephen's Green in Dublin.[5][6][7] This piece was restored in 2020.[8] There are other examples at:

Moore enlarged the work again to create the 3.6 metres (11 ft 10 in) high Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482a), cast in 1976 in an edition of 8 (6 plus 2 artist's copies). The two artists copies, cast 0 and cast 00, are owned by the Henry Moore Foundation, with one displayed in Greenwich Park from 1979 to 2007, and again since 2011.[18][19][20] There are other examples at:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge (plaster), Henry Moore Foundation
  2. ^ Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge (fibreglass), Henry Moore Foundation
  3. ^ Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 481), Hakone, Henry Moore Foundation
  4. ^ Working Model for "Standing Figure: Knife Edge", Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  5. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482 cast 0, Henry Moore Foundation
  6. ^ Standing Figure Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Dulin, Henry Moore Foundation
  7. ^ Knife-Edge, memorial for W.B. Yeats
  8. ^ Bromwell, Philip (8 July 2020). "'Hidden gem' restored in Dublin's St Stephen's Green". RTÉ.ie. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020.
  9. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), San Francisco, Henry Moore Foundation
  10. ^ Standing Figure, Knife-Edge, Smithsonian Institution
  11. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Pasadena, Henry Moore Foundation
  12. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge, cast 4, Norton Simon Museum
  13. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Minneapolis, Henry Moore Foundation
  14. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center
  15. ^ Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Grugapark
  16. ^ "Kunstwerke im Grugapark, Essen". Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  17. ^ Outdoor Sculpture Collection, Henry Moore, Standing Figure: Knife-Edge The Kreeger Museum
  18. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 0, Henry Moore Foundation
  19. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 00, Henry Moore Foundation
  20. ^ The return of Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge Henry Moore sculpture installed in Greenwich Park, 1 January 2011
  21. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 1, Henry Moore Foundation
  22. ^ Sculpture Park, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
  23. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 3, Henry Moore Foundation
  24. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Osaka, Henry Moore Foundation
  25. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Rayleigh, Henry Moore Foundation
  26. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Little Rock, Henry Moore Foundation
  27. ^ Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture