Standing Figure: Knife Edge is a bronze sculpture by the English artist Henry Moore. It was cast in two full-size versions: Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482) in 1961, and a larger Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482a) in 1976. The sculpture also is sometimes known as Standing Figure (Bone) or Winged Figure.
Moore first conceived the work in 1961. It is based on a fragment of a bird's breastbone, to which a base and a head were added with plasticine. A rounded protrusion forms the head, and the figure has a diagonal line at its waist. The resulting composition resembles a human torso, similar to the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It had been described as the end point of Moore's investigation of upright figures, which started with Standing Figure (1950) (LH 290). He used a similar process, starting with bone fragments, for his 1962 work, Knife Edge Two Piece.
The sculpture was enlarged in three stages. First, Moore made a high working model (LH 481) in 1961. The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green, Hertfordshire, has two versions, one in plaster and another in fibreglass,Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge (plaster), Henry Moore FoundationWorking Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge (fibreglass), Henry Moore Foundation and other examples are held by the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan,Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 481), Hakone, Henry Moore Foundation and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC.Working Model for "Standing Figure: Knife Edge", Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Second, Moore made the high Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482), cast at the Morris Singer art foundry in 1961 in an edition of 7 (6 plus 1 artist's copy). The artist's copy, cast 0, is displayed in the W. B. Yeats Memorial Garden at St Stephen's Green in Dublin.Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482 cast 0, Henry Moore FoundationStanding Figure Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Dulin, Henry Moore FoundationKnife-Edge, memorial for W.B. Yeats This piece was restored in 2020. There are other examples at: One Maritime Plaza in San Francisco Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), San Francisco, Henry Moore FoundationStanding Figure, Knife-Edge, Smithsonian Institution Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (cast 4)Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Pasadena, Henry Moore FoundationStanding Figure: Knife Edge, cast 4, Norton Simon Museum Minneapolis Sculpture GardenStanding Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Minneapolis, Henry Moore Foundation Standing Figure: Knife Edge, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center Botanischer Garten Grugapark, Essen, GermanyStanding Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482), Grugapark Kreeger Museum, Washington, DCOutdoor Sculpture Collection, Henry Moore, Standing Figure: Knife-Edge The Kreeger Museum
Moore enlarged the work again to create the high Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482a), cast in 1976 in an edition of 8 (6 plus 2 artist's copies). The two artists copies, cast 0 and cast 00, are owned by the Henry Moore Foundation, with one displayed in Greenwich Park from 1979 to 2007, and again since 2011.Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 0, Henry Moore FoundationLarge Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 00, Henry Moore FoundationThe return of Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge Henry Moore sculpture installed in Greenwich Park, 1 January 2011 There are other examples at: Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, in Hovikodden, Norway (cast 1)Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 1, Henry Moore FoundationSculpture Park, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter one at the Stiftung Landis and Gyr, beside Lake Zug in Switzerland (cast 3)Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, LH 482a cast 3, Henry Moore Foundation National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Osaka, Henry Moore Foundation North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Rayleigh, Henry Moore Foundation Little Rock, ArkansasLarge Standing Figure: Knife Edge 1961 (LH 482a), Little Rock, Henry Moore FoundationLarge Standing Figure: Knife Edge, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
See also List of sculptures by Henry Moore
References
Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Henry Moore, pp. 290–291