Henry Moore: Plasters

Anita Feldman, Malcolm Woodward

This is the first publication to look exclusively at Henry Moore’s work in plaster. Until recently the plasters have been regarded as preparatory stages in the process of making a sculpture rather than as works of art in their own right. In fact, their scarred surfaces, on which each incised line is visible, convey a sense of immediacy and a complexity of texture that is absent from the highly finished sculptures in bronze and marble, lending them a disturbing intensity. Acutely aware of the psychological and aesthetic changes that occurred in his sculptures once he cast them from plaster to bronze, Moore made a number in plaster only. Anita Feldman, a leading authority on Henry Moore, reappraises the significance and value of these beguiling creations, while the sculptor Malcolm Woodward recalls his time assisting Moore in their production. Illustrated with plasters of all sizes and from three decades, and including commentaries by the artists Anthony Caro and Phillip King, this important book uncovers a little-known aspect of Moore’s incomparable oeuvre.