tour 27 of 27
Power & Taboo: sacred objects from the Pacific
Sketch: Figure Study, drawing by Henry Moore
The artist Henry Moore regularly visited the
British Museum and was inspired by many objects from the eastern
Pacific in the Museum's collection, including this wooden
human figure from Hawaii.
A
powerful figure used in a temple, it can stand on its feet as well
as balance on its hands, though it has lost the human hair which
formerly cascaded down its back. It was probably collected by
Captain Lord Byron of HMS
Blonde in
1825.
The drawing is from
Henry Moore's Notebook no.
3 (p. 91) which covers the period 1922-4.
Moore noted the figure's amazing strength of form,
describing it as having 'the tension and strain of a
wrestler'. He wrote: 'this has been a favourite of
mine ever since my student days … I felt I had to sketch
it'.