Henry Moore Letter to Martin Butlin, Tate Gallery 22 January 1963
Henry Moore
Letter to Martin Butlin, Tate Gallery 22 January 1963
PC4.2.2
Henry Moore
Letter to Martin Butlin, Tate Gallery 22 January 1963
PC4.2.2
In this letter to Martin Butlin, Assistant Keeper at the Tate Gallery, Moore described the process by which he made the maquettes for Madonna and Child 1943 and Family Group 1945 from clay, rather than from plaster. The set of seven maquettes (four for Madonna and Child and three for Family Group) were among the first sculptures by Moore acquired by Tate in 1945 (see N05600–N05606).
Transcript
[Letterhead:]
Much Hadham 66 HOGLANDS,
Much Hadham 66 HOGLANDS,
PERRY GREEN,
MUCH HADHAM,
HERTS.
MUCH HADHAM,
HERTS.
[Typescript with handwritten signature: ]
1st November, 1963.
Dear Mr. Butlin,
Thank you for your letter of 14th January.
The original maquettes of the MADONNA AND CHILD and the FAMILY GROUP sculptures were all modelled direct in clay and then baked, and so became terra-cottas. It was from these terra-cottas that the small bronzes were cast, that is, there were no original plasters as there would have been if one produced the idea direct in plaster, as I quite often do.
In your letter you mention the KING AND QUEEN, – I think you must mean the Family Group. The small maquette for the KING AND QUEEN was made direct in wax, and so for that there is neither an original terra-cotta nor a plaster.
If all this is not clear, please let me know, and I will be happy to answer anything else.
Yours sincerely,
Henry Moore
How to cite
Henry Moore, Letter to Martin Butlin, Tate Gallery, 22 January 1963, in Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity, Tate Research Publication, 2015, https://www