Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae
Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae (LH 580a), also known as Dallas Piece or Vertebrae, is an abstract bronze sculpture by Henry Moore.[1] It was cast in 1978–79, specifically for a site outside I.M. Pei's Dallas City Hall, and is the largest version of a sculpture that Moore created in 1968.
The three part sculpture looks back to his earlier multi-part sculptures of human figures, and also his interlocking works such as Two Piece Sculpture No. 7: Pipe from 1966. Moore started with a plaster maquette in 1968, with three interlocking elements inspired by bones or flints. He created a second larger plaster working model, which was cast in bronze in 1968 as his Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae (LH 579), in an edition of eight (plus an artist's copy, which is at the Tate Gallery in London).[2] It measures 94 by 236.3 by 122 centimetres (37.0 in × 93.0 in × 48.0 in). Other casts are held by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.,[3] the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York,[4] and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.[5] Others are in private collections.[6] One example was sold at Christie's in 2012 for over £5m.[7]
The working model was scaled up in 1968–69 into a full-size bronze sculpture, measuring 9 feet (2.7 m) x 24 feet (7.3 m) x 10 feet 7 inches (3.23 m) (LH 580). The full-size sculpture was cast in edition of three (plus one for the artist). One example is installed outside the Safeco Plaza (1001 4th Avenue) in Seattle, Washington.[8] It was surveyed and deemed "well maintained" by the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in May 1995.[1][9] The others are at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem,[10] and the Landesbausparkasse in Münster,[11] with the artist's copy at the Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green, Hertfordshire.
Moore was commissioned in 1978 to create a sculpture to stand in the City Centre Park Plaza outside the Dallas City Hall, for which he scaled up his 1968–69 work Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae.[5]
-
Full-size sculpture, Perry Green -
Dallas Piece
References
- ^ a b "Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
- ^ "'Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae', Henry Moore OM, CH: Catalogue entry". Tate. 1980-12-12. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Works in Public – Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae 1968 (LH 579)". Henry Moore. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Works in Public – Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae 1968 (LH 579)". Henry Moore. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ a b "Henry Moore – Works in Public – Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae 1968 (LH 579)". Henry-moore-fdn.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Henry Moore OM, CH, 'Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae' 1968, cast c.1968 (Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity)". Tate. 1978-06-26. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Henry Moore (1898–1986) | Working Model for Three Piece No. 3: Vertebrae | Sculptures, Statues & Figures, bronze | Christie's". Christies.com. 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Safeco Plaza". hines.com. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
- ^ "Works in Public – Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae 1968–69 (LH 580)". Henry Moore. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Works in Public – Three Pieces Sculpture: Vertebrae 1968–69 (LH 580)". Henry Moore. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ "Works in Public – Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae 1968–69 (LH 580)". Henry Moore. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
