The 'Mother and child' idea is one of my two or three obsessions, one of my inexhaustible subjects . . . But the subject itself is eternal and unending, with so many sculptural possibilities in it - a small form in relation to a big form protecting the small one, and so on. It is such a rich subject, both humanly and compositionally, that I will always go on using it.
Henry Moore Drawings 1969-79, Wildenstein, New York 1979, p.29.
Maquette for Mother and Child: Block Seat (LH 836) was produced in 1981 and the full-size version cast in 1983-4, by which time Moore had two young grandchildren.
There is a psychological connection between the figures, the mother's head tilted towards the infant in her arms implying an intimate gaze. The division of the solid mass into two forms is another enduring aspect of Moore's work — he explores the importance of space, as each form relates to the other, suggesting protection, confinement and closeness. A more representational version of the maternal bond is seen in Draped Reclining Mother and Baby 1983, a curvaceous, lounging mother with a playful toddler nestled in her arm.
Assistant Curator, The Henry Moore Foundation
Moore is the master. I am puzzled by the way he mixes realism with abstraction.
(the left arm compared to the rest of the sculpture.) It is absolutely
right that he does, because he knew what he was doing, and he is the
master.