''Sheep Piece'' is a sculpture by Henry Moore made in three sizes from 1969-1972, starting in 1969 with a

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

(LH 625) modelled in plaster and then cast in bronze, enlarged in 1971 to a working model (LH 626) in plaster and then cast in bronze, and finally a full size bronze (LH 627) on a monumental scale, high, cast in 1971-72. The four full-size casts are at the

Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the arti ...

in Perry Green, Hertfordshire, in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, in Kansas City, and at the

Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens The Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens is a collection of 45 pieces of outdoor sculpture at the PepsiCo world headquarters in Purchase, New York. The collection includes work from major modern sculptors including Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Alexan ...

in Purchase, New York.

Background

Moore was inspired by seeing sheep in the fields outside his windows at Perry Green, Hertfordshire. He made many sketches of the animals, which he described as "rather shapeless balls of wool, with a head and four legs. Then I began to realise that underneath all that wool was a body, which moved in its own way, and that each sheep had its individual character." The sculpture includes two forms, representing two animals – possibly two adult sheep, or a ewe with a lamb. Moore later wrote "The sculpture is in two related forms. One is solid and passive, resting firmly on the ground and strongly resistant - the other form, slightly larger and more active and powerful, but yet it leans on the lower form, needing it for support." When Moore placed a cast of the sculpture in a field in Hertfordshire, he was pleased to see sheep sheltering under it or scratching themselves on it. In the book ''Makers of Modern Culture'', Patrick Conner describes the "power" of ''Sheep Piece'' as not only lying in the "physical confirmation of two massive structures but also in the psychological overtones of warmth and protectiveness that their relationship suggests".

History

The work began as a maquette made in plaster in 1969, and then cast in bronze. An example of the bronze is exhibited by the

in Perry Green. The maquette was enlarged to a plaster working model in 1971, which was then cast in bronze in an edition of 7+1 (seven casts plus an artist's copy). The plaster model is Perry Green, and examples of the bronze casts are at the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

and the

Hakone Open-Air Museum The Hakone Open-Air Museum (箱根彫刻の森美術館, Hakone Choukoku no Mori Bijutsukan) is Japan's first pen-air museum opened in 1969 in Hakone in Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It has collections of artworks made b ...

. The work was enlarged again in 1971-72 to create a full size bronze on a monumental scale, high, in edition of 3+1. A cast was loaned for the public exhibition in

Battersea Park Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies marshland recla ...

for

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

's Silver Jubilee in 1977, and a cast was included in an exhibition organised by the

Musée de l'Orangerie The Musée de l'Orangerie ( en, Orangery Museum) is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Garden next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The museum is most famous as the ...

in Paris, and displayed in the

Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

the same year. The artist's copy, cast 0, is at Perry Green. Cast 2 is situated on the Seepromenade in the

Seefeld Seefeld may refer to: Places * Seefeld in Tirol, a tourist resort in Tyrol, Austria * Seefeld, Bavaria, a town in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany ** Seefeld Castle * Seefeld, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Schleswig-Ho ...

district of

. The sculpture has stood on the promenade since 1976, when it was sited as part of an exhibition of Moore's work. Another cast has been in the Kansas City Sculpture Park in Kansas City since 1976, in the grounds of the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

. The purchase of the sculpture by the city was controversial, and it was bought using a legacy from N. Clyde Degginger intended for a monument to capture something of the unique "pioneer spirit" of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. It has been described as being pastoral, resembling bison but abstracted like boulders.N. Clyde Degginger Memorial: Sheep Piece
City of Kansas City Missouri Parks & Recreation Department The third commercial cast was exhibited the Clarks shoe factory in

Street, Somerset Street is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 11,805 in 2011. On a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, it is south-west of Glastonbury. There is evidence of Roman occupation ...

from 1979 until it was sold to PepsiCo in 1991, for a price reported to be around £2.1 million. It is now included in the

in New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheep Piece 1972 sculptures 1976 establishments in Switzerland Bronze sculptures in Missouri Bronze sculptures in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri Buildings and structures in Zürich Outdoor sculptures in Missouri Outdoor sculptures in Switzerland Sculptures by Henry Moore Tourist attractions in Kansas City, Missouri Sculptures of sheep Animal sculptures in the United States Animal sculptures

Background

History

See also

References