Report: Henry Moore’s Festival of Britain bronze may break auction records

According to a report by the Guardian, British sculptor Henry Moore’s work once labelled “a monstrosity” that deserved to be buried and not displayed, is now set to break auction records as the most expensive sculpture ever made by a British sculptor. Moore’s work, an edition of the Reclining Figure: Festival will be sold at its flagship modern art sale in New York later this year in November.

Sotheby’s, the auction house, indicated that they will be selling Moore’s bronze of a reclining semi-abstract figure which was first exhibited at the Festival of Britain in 1951 as a centrepiece. At the time, it received several reactions ranging from startled to unsettling and amused to adoration.

However, Moore reportedly singled out the piece as one of his most important sculptures, and the first in which he succeeded in making “form and space sculpturally inseparable”. According to the Guardian, Sotheby’s is selling one of the seven sculptures that was kept by the Moore family. It has an estimated $30-$40 million which is the highest ever bid on one of Moore’s works or any British sculptor.

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There were several interpretations of this sculpture, including some seeing it as a “thrilling representation” of the British defiance and resilience after World War II. Others were supposedly shocked by it, saying that Moore is occupied by images of Nazi concentration camps or other horrors and aftermath of the war. Some others hated it and when Leeds city council agreed to accept the work by the artist on a long-term loan, it raised many eyebrows and stirred up a storm among the people, said the media report.

Meanwhile, Moore had declined to weigh in on this row saying that he believes artists themselves entering into these controversies is wrong and that he would never get any work done. He added, “These things sort themselves out in the long run.” The report also indicated that the original plaster sculpture of Reclining Figure is in the Tate collection and others remain in museum collections, one of which includes the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris.

“It is a very innovative work which was completely in tune with the mood of postwar London,” said chair of Sotheby's Europe, Oliver Barker to the Guardian. He added, “All great art often divides crowds. If you think about Guernica, it was very contentious when it first came out. All great art provokes. Since then it has just become more and more celebrated.” He also went on to say that there is something “very radical” about the sculpture.