Three Way Piece No. 1: Points

Label TextIn Three Way Piece No. 1: Points, Moore envisioned an abstract public sculpture with three unique viewpoints that would invite the spectator to circumambulate the work to understand its form. “Sculpture should always at first sight have some obscurities, and further meanings. People should want to go on looking and thinking; it should never tell all about itself immediately,” Moore explained.(1) The undulating form of Three Way Piece No. 1: Points was inspired by a pebble the artist kept in his studio for years. Found objects, especially those sourced from nature, often serve as the inspiration for Moore’s monumental works. To develop the overall shape of his bronze sculptures, Moore began by building up a model of the shape in plaster over a wire and wood armature. He then cut, scraped, and chiseled the surface of the model with carving tools. Hatch marking and gouges from this process are replicated in the bronze cast of the piece. Moore also changed the texture and patina of the bronze in specific areas to enhance the sensation of the sculpture bulging in space. The work foregrounds an experience of mass while maintaining a sense of lightness. The imposing, substantial form rests on three delicate points, carefully positioned and balanced for the bulk they support. Moore began making public sculptures following World War II; he was deeply invested in this practice, considering it a civic duty for assisting the rebuilding of British cities and towns after the bombing that had occurred during the war. By the 1960s, he was relying on bronze casting to make monumental, abstract work that were installed internationally. While earlier pieces had relied on a frontal viewpoint, these later works endowed the viewer with agency to observe the sculpture from a vantage point of their choosing. Thus, Moore found a way to create abstract sculptures that activate the viewer in public space.

(1) Quoted in John Hedgecoe, ed. Henry Moore (London: Simon and Schuster, 1968), 83.

Published ReferencesAN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. & b/w ill. p.200, color ill. pp.200 & 201

DimensionsOverall: 73 × 53 × 99 in., 1600 lb. (185.4 × 134.6 × 251.5 cm, 725.8 kg.)

Accession Number 1998.2

Classificationssculpture

CopyrightARS

SignedMoore 3/3 (lower front center)

Inscriptionsfoundry stamp: H. Noack, Berlin (lower front center)

Edition3/3 (edition of 3 plus 1 AP)

ProvenanceMr. and Mrs. Leigh Block, Chicago; Alamo Bank, San Antonio, TX (changes name to MBank Alamo); Principal Mutual Life Insurance Company, San Antonio [acquired by 1993]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1998]