- Artwork Details: 58.4 x 48.3 x 20.3cm
- Edition: edition of 1
- Material description: bronze
- Credit line: Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015
- Theme: Portrait
- Medium:
- Accession number: ACC5/1963
Head of a King
1953
Moore, Henry
This sculpture shares the same form as the male head that features in Moore's famous sculpture 'King and Queen', 1952-53, which was possibly created to celebrate the impending coronation of Elizabeth II. Moore describes the head as a 'combination of crown, beard and face symbolising a mixture of primitive kingship and a kind of animal, Pan-like quality ... bringing out the contrast between human grace and the concept of power in primitive kingship.' The beak-like nose and majestic pose reveal the influence of the totemic and ethnic sculptures that Moore saw at the British Museum as a young artist.
Lizzie Wright