Henry Moore Works in Public
This is a guide to Moore's sculptures on public display throughout the world. We strive to ensure that all information is accurate, however we recommend that you contact each venue before making a visit. Please also contact us if you spot any mistakes. In some instances it has not been possible to source an image of the actual sculpture in-situ, and on such occasions an alternative image has been used.
San Francisco
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall
de Young Museum
Maritime Plaza
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
height 284.5cm
bronze
Since my student days I have liked the shape of bones, and have drawn them, studied them in the Natural History Museum, found them on sea-shores and saved them out of the stewpot.There are many structural, and sculptural principles to be learnt from bones, e.g. that in spite of their lightness they have great strength. Some bones, such as the breast bones of birds, have the lightweight fineness of a knife-blade. Finding such a bone led to me using this knife-edge thinness in 1961 in a sculpture Seated Woman (thin neck) [LH 472]. In this figure the thin neck and head, by contrast with the width and bulk of the body, give more monumentality to the work. Later in 1961 I used this knife-edged thinness throughout a whole figure, and produced this Standing Figure.
Henry Moore quoted in Phillip James, Henry Moore on Sculpture; a collection of the sculptor’s writings and spoken words, Macdonald. London 1966, p.278