Nasher Sculpture Center

In the ongoing dialogue between abstraction and figuration that characterizes Henry Moore's late work, this sculpture represents one of his more naturalistic statements. Enacting again the signature theme of the reclining woman, Moore articulated this long, lithesome figure with a series of sharp angles pushing outward against its contours (hence the subtitle): the high inverted Vs forming the knees, the sharp angle of the left elbow and shoulder, the pointed breasts, and the sharp cut of the hair. The massing of the figure is unusually simplified and fluid, moving from the archlike legs into the twisted torso and culminating in the raised, observant head. A particularly close comparison can be made with Moore's earlier Draped Reclining Figure (1952-53).

A small maquette dating from 1975 and measuring 9 ¼ inches long was cast in an edition of nine bronzes (Bowness, 1983, cat. no. 673). An intermediate version (36 inches in length) from 1975-77 also exists in an edition of nine (Bowness, 1983, cat. no. 674), and the large-scale version (86 inches), represented in the Nasher collection, was cast in an edition of nine plus an artist's proof, which remains the property of the Henry Moore Foundation. A finished watercolor-and-crayon drawing of Reclining Figure: Angles formerly belonged to Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London, and similar motifs appear in numerous drawings and prints from the same period.