Henry Moores Sheep Sketchbook

This reviewer has had a love affair with this little book since first he saw it nearly thirty years ago. Has any artist ever so accurately, affectionately rendered the image of a sheep? One has to go back to Leonardo's lion, Durer's hare or Copley's squirrel to savor such a combination of skilled discernment and droll wit deployed in the appreciation of a creature's form and being. In 1972 Henry Moore sketched the sheep in a field adjacent his smaller studio, coming to know them as individuals in several seasons, including lambing and shearing, seeing them bear and nourish their young and later yield up their wool to the blades. His empathy for these fellow creatures is everywhere apparent, even as-- in typical Moore fashion-- he makes of what he beholds a very monument. The intricate dazzle of his pen-work never overwhelms his subject; on the contrary, the room in which you'll enjoy this little book becomes, yes, a pasture.

The famous sculptor's delightful sketchbook of drawings done for his daughter.

In 1972, when the packing and crating for a major exhibition made it impossible for him to work in his sculpture studios, Henry Moore retreated to a small studio that looks out on a sheep meadow. Over the course of several months, as sheep were suckled and sheared, Moore produced this delightful flock of sketches and drawings.

Sheep are a commonplace of the English countryside, but Moore looked at them afresh. Here are ewes nurturing their lambs, lambs playing in the meadow, and the swollen stateliness of sheep with full coats of wool. Many of the sketches evoke themes that are important in all Moore's work. The depiction of an ewe and lamb, for instance, suggests the mother-and-child theme often evoked in Moore's sculpture by a large form sheltering a smaller one.

Henry Moore presented the sketchbook to his daughter, Mary. In this facsimile edition, first created under Moore's personal supervision, Mary's little lambs will charm anyone who sees these tender, vigorous drawings. 96 illustrations, 4 in color.

Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 07-31-1998
Pages: 112
Measurements: 8in X 10in