Henry Moore, Sculpture workshop, figure, A level art

1. Henry Moore
1898 - 1986

2. Have you seen this one
at Kenwood in
Hampstead Heath?

3. What materials and techniques did Henry Moore use?
Moore worked with a variety of sculptural techniques:
At the start of his career, Moore would carve directly into wood or stone. He thought it was important to
show the particular qualities of a material. This is called ‘truth to materials’.
Later in his career, Moore would carve and model in clay and plaster, and then cast the sculpture into bronze
(metal). This is expensive but means that you can make several copies of one sculpture. Bronze is also very
strong and therefore good for ‘public sculpture’ which has to withstand all weathers for many years.
Can you work out which techniques Moore has used for these sculptures?
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES

4. What natural forms do you think Moore has included in these sculptures? There are no right answers!
THEMES

5. Clay figure modelling 1 : clay
• Take a piece of clay which is quite large but that you can hold and model in your
hands.
• Wedge it (like kneading bread dough) briefly to make sure it has an even
consistency.
• Use your hands to model the clay into the basic form of a body. Keep the clay in
one piece and do not try to make the sculpture buy building it from separate
pieces of clay.
• Now model the clay into the position that the model is sitting in.
• Put your sculpture on a wooden board. Continue to make corrections. Try to get
the proportions right.
• REMEMBER! Sculpture is 3 dimensional and is viewed from 360°. You will need to
walk around the model with your sculpture and work on it from different
viewpoints.
• At the end of the lesson, photograph your clay figure. Take your sculpture off the
wooden board and wrap it well in plastic. Put it back on the board and put your
name on it.
Life model, clay, wooden boards
to put model on, clay modelling
tools, plastic.

6. Modelling the figure in clay

7. Clay figure modelling 2: drawing
Do at least 2 drawings of your clay sculpture. Use shading and contour
lines to create the illusion of 3 dimensions.
Drawings by Henry Moore

8. Clay figure modelling 3:
How can I make my clay figure into a response
to the work of Henry Moore?
Look again at the work of Henry Moore. Imagine transforming your sculpture so that it has some
elements of Moore’s style. What will you need to do?
Now do it! What you may need to do to your sculpture:
Cut it
Enlarge areas
Flatten areas (hit it with a flat stick)
Curve areas
Make holes in it
Make it angular
REMEMBER that the theme is the figure.
PHOTOGRAPH your sculpture.
(If sculptures are to be fired, any areas thicker than 2cm will need to be hollowed out)
Clay, wooden boards to model
on, clay modelling tools.

9. •Present all your work in
your sketchbook