Hertfordshire countryside house of Henry Moore

Large Reclining Figure is the product of Moore’s fourth and final collaboration with the architect I. M. Pei. In 1976, one of Pei’s most ambitious projects opened in Singapore: a fifty-two storey skyscraper – then the tallest in South East Asia – for the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation. Pei had wanted to site a major sculptural commission at the base of the building, but it was several years before a suitable space became available. When Pei approached Moore about the commission, he was fearful of his response. Moore – by now in his eighties - had already told Pei that he was no longer producing monumental sculptures and that he was concentrating on producing drawings for the Foundation. He conceded, however, that it might be possible if the commission were based on an existing work.

Further reading: catalogue.henry-moore.org/objects/14059/large-reclining-figure