'Pink and Green Sleepers' (1941)
Henry Moore
Graphite, ink, gouache and wax on paper
'Mother and Child' (1949)
Henry Moore
Bronze
'The Artist's Hands II' (c. 1979)
Henry Moore
Etching on paper
'The Artist's Hands II' analysis
Henry Moore was born in July 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, and died in August 1986 at the age of 88. He was alive during both the first and second World Wars, and many of his works are based on his past experiences of the wars. He is most famous for his sculptures, drawings, graphics and textiles. His father, Raymond Spencer Moore did not want his sons to work in the mines, but rather to have a formal education. In primary school Henry began modelling in clay and carving in wood, and decided there that he wanted to become a sculptor. He developed a good understanding of art from his art teacher in Castleford Grammar school, however, later his parents decided that they did not want him to be a sculptor, so at 18 years old he volunteered for the army service. In 1917 he was injured in a gas attack during the Battle of Cambrai, so he spent the rest of the war as a personal training instructor. After the war, he received an ex-serviceman's grant to continue his education at the Leeds School of Art. As he returned to London, he accepted a seven-year teaching job at the Royal College of Art. There he met Irina Radetsky, a painting student at the college, and they married in 1929. After six years of teaching at the Royal College, Moore assumed the role of the Head of the Department of Sculpture in the Chelsea School of Art. Due to the outbreak of World War Two, the school was evacuated to Northampton and Moore resigned from teaching. During the war, he produced powerful drawings of Londoners sleeping in the London Underground whilst sheltering from the Blitz. These drawings helped to boost Moore's International reputation, particularly in America. After the war, Irina had a child named Mary in 1946. Due to the loss of his mother and several miscarriages, Moore produced many artworks of a mother and child.
Moore's inspirations came from natural forms from the earth. He believed that works had to have an energy, or life of its own. It had to be independent, unique and interesting. Things like the nature influenced him to create beautiful sculptures like he did.
In 'The Artist's Hands II', Henry Moore has used pen to create a beautiful drawing of one hand in another. Moore has used lines in many different directions to create the shape and tone of the hands. For the background he has used a scribbling technique that is dark by the hands and gets lighter further out. The centre point is just below one of the knuckles of one of the hands that is holding the other.
The formal elements, such as form, line, tone, colour and texture, in this piece have been used in many different ways to create a unique and interesting drawing. Due to its small size (190x254mm), its form is different to how it would be if it was larger. This has caused the hands to be drawn larger so that the focus is more on them. He has used cross-hatching and a scribbling technique to put more emphasis on the dark and light areas, making it more bold. Moore has used linear mark making,drawing lines in different directions to create the shape of the hands as well as the tones. There are no lines defining the outline of the hands, making it look more realistic.
On the back of the hand, Moore has drawn the lines more dense and closer together, to give the illusion that it is darker; however, on the other hand there are less lines and is less cross-hatching, giving the impression that it is lighter, showing a contrast between light and dark. For the background, Moore has used a mixture of the two, subtly graduating the layering of many different densities to represent the shadow that the hands have created. The use of black and white in this piece gives the drawing its contrast. The contradiction between light and dark i the drawing is shown more early through the use of black ad white. Moore's use of pen onto paper creates thin lines, some dense, some spread out, creating a rough, messy texture, as opposed to the smooth texture a medium such as charcoal would create.
The centre of the drawing is just underneath the first knuckle of the hand, which is white, immediately conveying the strong contrast between light and dark. Both arms come from each of the bottom corners of the page, joining in the middle, leading the viewer's eye to the main subject of the piece, which represents a strong bond and unity.
Moore's subject is the aged body. He did many drawings similar to this in 1979 of his own hands when he was eighty-one years old and was not very well. He quoted; "Hands convey so much, they can beg or refuse, take or give, be open or clenched, show content or anxiety. They can be young or old, beautiful or deformed". The drawing is portraying the beauty of hands, not just physically, but in many ways they can be used.
This piece of work could relate back to the theme of 'layers' because of the layers of tone that is created through the build up of lines and texture. I also like the style that has been used because it shows free movement and creates lots of texture in the drawing. For future pieces of work, I would like to create a piece using a similar style and subject to this, linking it back to 'layers' by creating shape through tones and lines.
Andy Goldsworthy
'Pebbles Broken and Scraped' (1985)
Andy Goldsworthy
'Sticks Framing a Lake' (2003)
Andy Goldsworthy
'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' (1987)
Andy Goldsworthy
'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' analysis
Andy Goldsworthy was born in July 1956 in Cheshire. From the age of 13 he worked on farms as a labourer, allowing him to spend lots of time outdoors, living with the nature. He associated the repetitive quality of farm tasks to the routine of making sculptures. Goldsworthy studied fine art at Bradford College of Art and received his Bachelor of arts degree after studying at Preston Polytechnic. Photography is a very important part of his work because of its impermanent state. He stated, "Each work grows, stays, decays - integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit."
In 1982, he married Judith Gregson, and they had four children together. The couple later separated, and Goldsworthy now lives in the village of Penpont with his partner Tina Fiske.
Goldsworthy has had many exhibitions and installations between the years of 1996 and 2012 all around the world including the UK, Australia, America, Brazil and France.He has won many awards including the Northern Arts Award and was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire In 2000.
Goldsworthy only used materials from the natural environment, including flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns.
In Goldsworthy's 'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' you can see layers of rowan leaves placed in a circle shape around a hole in the ground which is in the centre. The colours of the leaves change as they go further out, starting at yellow, going to orange, then red, then a darker red or purple.
The formal elements used in this piece are very different to the ones used in Henry Moore's drawing. Goldsworthy has placed the leaves around the hole perfectly to create a circle in the middle, and the leaves are positioned so that they keep that circular shape throughout. The artist has created a gradual increase of colour intensity, starting with dark red, then increasing to a bright yellow. The tone of the luminous yellow compared to the dark black hole creates a strong contrast, capturing the viewer's eye. The colours are extremely well blended and create a strong visual impact.
The centre of the piece is a black hole in the ground, surrounding this are brightly coloured leaves that create a strong contrast of light and dark. The circle shape of the hole is kept throughout as the leaves get darker and further away. The contrast in the middle captures the viewer's eye.
The colours and contrast in this piece overall remind me of an eclipse. The fact that nothing is manmade in the work represents the beauty of nature and how it has grown. The fact that it is a temporary piece of art could be portraying how nothing beautiful lasts forever, and that it will go when the seasons change.
This work could relate to the theme of 'layers' because of its physical connotations - the layers of leaves, tone and colour, as well as its metaphorical connotations - layers of nature, beauty and time.
Both artworks have similar textures which have been created in different ways. In Moore's drawing he uses cross-hatching and a scribbling technique, creating a rough texture. A rough texture is also created in Goldsworthy's piece because of the unevenness of the leaves that have been placed there. Both works have strong contrasting colours. As Moore's is in black and white, there is a great difference between light and dark, and there is a lot of blending of the two colours, causing some parts of the drawing to look grey. This is similar to Goldsworthy's piece in which he has used a strong dissimilarity in light and dark, however, he has also used colour to show an even greater contradiction between the bold, vibrant yellow and the dark black.
One of the differences between the two is the materials that have been used to create each piece. Goldsworthy has used leaves that have been placed on the ground in an ephemeral state - they could be washed or blown away at any time, and if they are not then over time the leaves will decompose - the piece is only temporary. In contrast, Henry Moore's piece was drawn with pen onto paper, which is a permanent action, as it is sending a different meaning compared to the one Goldsworthy's piece is sending.
