Henry Moore's Sheep Sketchbook

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Sturdy Welsh breeds like ours will over-winter in the fields around our home, and by April those cute, bouncy lambkins will start to appear. In February 1972 Henry Moore's sculpture studios in the English countryside at Much Hadham were filled with the preparations for his retrospective exhibition in Florence. Sheep has always had some special meaning for me, more so than cows or horses, whether it is that I saw them as a boy in parts of Yorkshire landscape or whether it's from reading the Bible in early childhood where sheep have a mention, and not horses for instance, I really would not like to say. He used a regular ball-point pen, allowing him the ease to glide over the paper when necessary but also to swirl violently and cut into it.

I notice how there are few actual outlines-Moore – rarely started his sketches by outlining his sheep, but started shading straight away. Henry Moore often sketched ideas for his sculptures in pencil, charcoal, color washes, and even ballpoint pen. On paper, the attempt to recreate that same relationship provides a surprising element of transience to the sheep as they go about their everyday business of milling about. By the 1930s Moore was already recognized as the leading avant-garde sculptor in England but it was his war drawings that brought him to the attention of the British public. Clyde Degginger intended for a monument to capture something of the unique "pioneer spirit" of Kansas.He was often photographed in physical contact with his work, holding it as the maker or resting his hands on it as in ownership. John Hedgecoe explained, ‘Even after all the years I knew him, Henry Moore was still at his most relaxed when posing with one of his sculptures’.

Other leading British artists represented in the collection include Eileen Agar, David Bomberg, Roger Fry, Harold Gilman, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, Lucie Rie and William Scott. Solid in form, sudden and vigorous in movement, Henry Moore's sheep are created through a network of swirling and zigzagging lines in the rapid and (in Moore's hands) sensitive medium of ballpoint pen. The lakeside promenade at Zürichhorn is home to one of the typical works by the English sculptor Henry Moore. For such a placid subject, the movement and energy generated by Moore showcases his deep fascination with the animal, but one that is essentially of the moment.Everyone at Goldmark is very friendly, knowledgeable and will give you as much or as little time as you wish. Zig-zags and rushed ball point pen lines dominate the drawings, thicker and more panicked scratches where there is less light and softer yet still sudden and vigorous on the brighter parts of the scene.

In February 1972 Henry Moore's sculpture studios in the English countryside at Much Hadham were filled with the preparations for his retrospective exhibition at Florence. His sheep sketches are very accurate and first look solid in form when standing from a distance, yet when you get closer to the imagery you start to notice his style. Perhaps Moore could see the process occurring when a sheep was augmenting its surroundings naturally and more quickly than he could with a sculptural work.

A great resource for artists and art students and a thoroughly charming addition to your art library. He is renowned for his semi-abstract, figurative works which can be seen as monumental public sculptures around the world. They may have moved out of the position that provided Moore with this initial inspiration but the artist essentially links their textures to the landscape that they inhabit; the woolly cacophony of the animals being part of the momentary process of place.