2-911-214 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Hoglands, Perry Green, Much Hadham, East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, 03-10-1950. Henry Moore in his studio at Perry Green working on his sculpture 'Reclining Figure', commissioned by the Festival of Britain 1951 for the South Bank Exhibition, London. The original caption reads: "Henry Moore in his studio working on his new sculpture commissioned by the Festival of Britain 1951 for the South Bank Exhibition, London." The final sculpture was created in bronze and had a surface decoration of thin string "to define the form", which Moore described as "[giving] the shape more insistence than it would do on an absolutely plain surface". The sculpture was displayed near the main entrance of the South Bank site. Following the end of the Festival, the site was cleared; casts of the sculpture were created and sold. This photograph was published on page 19 of 'The Official Book of The Festival of Britain', 1951, printed by HMSO.