Falling Warrior

My work this week took me to Huddersfield Library and Art Gallery.

This sculpture by Henry Moore (1898-1986) is one of the exhibits and was made around 1956. Moore said he "wanted a figure that was still alive.....emphasising the dramatic moment that precedes death".

The theme of "The Falling Warrior" alludes to Moore's experiences of war: He had served in France in 1917 and returned to England to recover after being gassed in the battle of Cambrai. During the Second World War his studio in London was destroyed in a bombing raid; as the Official War Artist he completed a number of drawings of people sheltering and sleeping on London's underground stations.

Moore believed that sculpture should always be slightly obscure and ambiguous and should make people look and think; it should never tell people all about itself immediately.

It was a long and tiring day in the office, feeling a bit under the weather again and made even worse by problems with my laptop. I was relieved to be told that my replacement laptop has arrived.