St Edward's Academic Review 2025

ACADEMIC REVIEW 2025

The tonal heat of the bronze imitates the life that should belong to the unidentified “animal”, the abstraction having mutilated the form beyond recognition. Its back legs are splayed, balancing almost. A sense of violence behind this sculpture is tangible, the clean cut of the neck, a slightly hacked part in the middle of what we assume is its back, we can see that the head must have been cut off by an exterior force. Caught in the instant – moments after as no blood can be seen spilt. This natural form seems almost like it has been eroded, with a contrast between the smooth on one side, and hacked on the other. Blunt strikes into the bronze, emphasising the aggression the animal has suffered. I found Moore’s message of human’s destruction of animals particularly moving with the dip of the animal’s spine, reinforcing the yielding and utilitarian purpose of the creature. The lack of a head further underlines its loss of identity and individuality. Throughout time, from the classical civilisations, a headless body has been a strong symbol of disrespect and disdain, the tragedy of leaving the subject unidentifiable amplifying the insult of its murder. This piece was created in 1960, and through the abstraction of the figure we can tell Moore was influenced by other contemporary artists, most notably Pablo Picasso and Barbara Hepworth. Picasso would have been significant in the ideology of distorted proportions and changing from literal forms, while Hepworth led in experimental shapes and abstract sculptures. Here the animal stands despite death and appears to be decomposing as the shape warps and struggles. The emphasis on it being a natural form could be discerned as a memento mori, reinforcing that animals are natural beings, and they return to the earth. Taking a closer look, the front legs are more identifiable. The right ‘ A sense of violence behind this sculpture is tangible ’

‘ Throughout time, from the classical

one appears to be extending forwards, contrasting with the expiration of the animal, the shape sprawling due to the tensile strength of the bronze. The sculpture itself is small, the size reflecting the subject’s weakness and vulnerability without its head, the lack of importance of a body without a face. With dimensions of 159 mm × 225 mm × 95 mm, Moore is inviting and even insisting that we viewers lean in and look closer, becoming complicit in the violence, the size further alluding to the lack of importance of the animal and its insignificance. Bronze can be polished and here it has been burnished so that it catches the light. This highlights the bumps and rises of the small metal structure, while it is not highly finished and is only smooth on one side. There is a deep brown patina that reflects the dark coat of an animal, ironic in the contrast of a cold metal appearing warm. Usually Moore’s pieces are situated outside and develop a bright green verdigris. He explained ‘My own patina is, of course, a preliminary to the one which nature will herself supply in time.’ The original figure was made by the additive method using plaster. The clear musculation would have been modelled into the plaster before being moulded. Moore himself did not take up bronze until the 1930s, surprising with some of his most prominent pieces, such as King and Queen . By being preserved inside and not having changed by natural processes, we are redirected to the fact that this work is representing the domestic used life of animals. civilisations, a headless body has been a strong symbol of disrespect and disdain, the tragedy of leaving the subject unidentifiable amplifying the insult of its murder ’

Image © The Henry Moore Foundation All Rights Reserved, DACS / www.henry-moore.org 2025 Photo: Tate

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