[Henry Moore] Mother and Child: Hood 1983

Mother and Child: Hood 1983

travertine marble
height 183cm
on loan from the Henry Moore Foundation

The idea of a piece for St Paul’s was put to Moore in 1983, when he was recovering from a serious illness. The commission did much to reinvigorate him: ’I can’t get this Madonna and Child out of my mind,’ he said. ’It may be my last work, and I want to give it the feel of having a religious connotation'. Moore decided that travertine marble would be a more suitable material than bronze for the site chosen, in the north choir aisle of the cathedral, close to the main altar. The task of carving the large piece, which stands seven feet high, was entrusted to the stone carvers of the Henraux stoneyard in Querceta in the Carrara mountains of northern Italy, where in his younger days Moore himself had carved many works.


http://www.henry-moore.org/works-in-public/world/uk/london/st-pauls-cathedral/mother-and-child-hood-1983-lh-851

 

Henry Moore 的 Mother and Child: Hood 第一眼看上去，如果不知道tittle，還是會做和很多猜想， 離遠一點看， 能感覺到石雕表現出一種本能強大的嗬護，又是在 聖保羅大教堂，馬上會聯想到聖母瑪利亞懷抱基督耶穌 的那些油畫， 可 再走近看 又可以看到雕塑同時又刻畫  人類繁殖必須的 過程：受精和 分娩。

Henry Moore 的母親一直被風濕病折磨， 從小就目睹母親的疾苦， 這個雕塑也是他心底裏對母親的愛，和對女性的敬意， 再放在聖保羅大教堂，又有更多意義， 基督教認為聖母瑪利亞是是聖潔的，聖保羅大教堂是一個很開明的教堂，曾經約旦國王 的葬禮也在這就舉行， 約旦王子在這高聲朗讀 伊斯蘭可蘭經。

很高興有機會能學習Henry Moore 這個作品， 很感動