Trees in Winter
1977
Charcoal and watercolour wash in grey and umber. Recto: signed and dated 'Moore 77’ lower left. Verso: annotated in pencil '77 (27)'.
201 x 284 mm (7 3/4 x 11 inches)
Provenance: Raymond Spencer Company; Galerie Beyeler, Basle 1982; Crane Kalman, London, 1988; private collection, London to the present.
Exhibited: Galerie Beyeler, Basel, 1982, cat. no.34; Paris 1983, cat.no.37.
Castleford, West Yorkshire 1898
~ 1986 Much Hadham, Hertfordshire
In 1940 Henry Moore and his wife, Irina, decided to leave his London studio due to the continuous threat from the bombing of the city. They moved to Perry Green, Much Hadham in Hertfordshire and bought Hoglands which was to remain their home for the rest of their lives. They loved the beauty of the countryside and their garden.
After 1970 Moore devoted much more of his time to drawing for pleasure rather than simply for his work in sculpture. He had always loved to draw the skeletal shape of trees in winter, black against a pale sky. In the winter of 1977-78, Moore made a series of drawings of trees in the orchard of Dane Tree House, Perry Green. Six of these formed the basis of etchings which were published as an album, CGM 547–552.
In Henry Moore, Volume 5, Complete Drawings 1977-81, there are five illustrations of Trees in Winter. Our drawing is catalogue number AG 77.37. The accompanying image has Moore's signature but not the date '77' thus it seems that Moore must have dated the drawing at a later stage. This was not unusual for him.1 Another drawing from this group, very similar in mood and execution, is signed and dated on the lower right side.2
1.Ed. Ann Garrould, Henry Moore, Vol. 5, Complete Drawings 1977–81, The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, London, 1994, p.vii.
2. Ed.Ann Garrould, op.cit., p.26, AG 77.38
