HENRY MOORE (1898-1986) The Helmet, 1939-40. Silver print, the image measuring 7 1/8x6 inches (18x15.2 cm.), with Moore's credit, the artwork title, date, description, and Roland Penrose Collection citation in ink, on verso. Circa 1950
Provenance: Laurence McGilvery, San Diego
This work was one of the last works executed by Moore before he stopped doing sculpture in 1940 when his Hampstead studio was damaged by bombs and metal was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. He would return to the subject of the helmet heads after the war, the themes of which can be considered militaristic, as well as related to his interest in questions around the idea of the body as a protective shell, and in this case the mother and child motif.
