Falling Warrior

myminifactory

‘My first visit to Greece came late in life - it was 1951, when I was fifty-three - and I thought before going that I knew about Greek art, because I'd been brought up on it, and that I might even be disappointed. But not at all, of course. I'd say that four or five of my top ten or twelve visual experiences came in Greece. For example, Mycenae had a tremendous impact. I felt that I understood Greek tragedy and - well, the whole idea of Greece - much, much more completely than ever before... And the Greek landscape was another revelation for me - that stark, stony quality, with the feeling that the sea may be round the next corner. I can understand why they were sculptors - the stone just had to be used, it was the one thing they had to hand’ Henry Moore's famous Falling Warrior was originally conceived a few years after his first visit to Greece in 1951. The idea's origins lay within classical Greek sculpture (see the Dying Warriors, from the temple of Aphaia) and casts of the victims of Pompeii; breaking from his typical statues of women, he decided to turn to suffering male figures seen in Hellenistic sculpture. Prior to this trip, his work sought inspiration from non-Western sources such as African and Oceanic primitive sculpture, being a long-term outspoken critic of what he saw as the long-standing pervasive influence of the Classical period on sculpture. Moore wrote in a letter dated January 15th, 1955: ‘The idea for The Warrior came to me at the end of 1952 or very early in 1953. It was evolved from a pebble I found on the seashore in the summer of 1952, and which reminded me of the stump of a leg, amputated at the hip... First I added the body, leg and one arm and it became a wounded warrior, but at first the figure was reclining. A day or two later I added a shield and altered its position into a seated figure and so it changed from an inactive pose into a figure which, though wounded, is still defiant. The figure may be emotionally connected with one's feelings and thoughts about England during the crucial and early part of the last war. The position of the shield and its angle give protection from above’ Scanned at 'The Figure and Form: Works from an Important Private Collection' (2015), Sotheby's. Estimate $2,800,000 - $4,000,000, Lot Sold - $4,081,000 USD. This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help. Scanned: Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)