Three upright motives

In 1963, Hammacher and Oxenaar consult with the London gallery owner Harry Fisher about the purchase of Three Upright Motives by Henry Moore, a sculpture group comprising three different sculptures. Upright Motive no. 1: Glenkiln Cross, Upright Motive no. 2 and Upright Motive no. 7 are part of a series of standing sculptures that Henry Moore created between 1955 and 1956. The entire series consists of thirteen small models, of which only numbers 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 were executed full-size in bronze. Previously, the Upright Motives had only been sold as individual works.

In the autumn of 1963, Oxenaar visits Moore’s studio in London to discuss the plan for the sculpture group. ‘I saw the three sculptures at Moore’s, the Glenkiln Cross on its own in the garden, the others on the platform in the studio and I was again very impressed!’ Moore is also very enthusiastic about the plan and finds it self-evident that it belongs there. He is prepared to come over to supervise the placement. Oxenaar receives the green light to purchase the sculpture group on 15 January 1964. Moore has the three works re-patinated so they also truly match each other in terms of colour and appearance.

Oxenaar suggests placing the Three Upright Motives outside the museum grounds, at the foot of the Franse berg in De Hoge Veluwe National Park. Oxenaar: ‘For those who approach from the road, the sculpture group will announce the Museum from miles away like a sign, while on the other hand this “monument” is intended as a tribute to Mrs Kröller, who sought to fully realize her ideal in precisely this spot’.

To give the artist an impression of the location, he has three tree trunks of comparable height placed on the proposed sand hill and sends the photographs to Moore, who is enthusiastic about Oxenaar’s choice. ‘I am very happy with the prospect of them eventually being put on the sandy hill overlooking the plains, and I agree with you that it is a very good site for the group.’ The sand hill is raised slightly at Moore’s request.

From the sand hill, the foundations of Helene's ‘Grand Museum’ are clearly visible. This inspires Moore to design a pedestal for the sculpture group: ‘When I saw them, I thought some of them would make a good base for the three upright figures […] that’s how that particular base happened’. Moore wants the pedestal, like the foundations of the ‘Grand Museum’, to be made of concrete.

Under the technical direction of Marinus van den Brink, work on the complicated formwork takes place in the winter of 1964. ‘Based on a small plaster scale model and some working drawings, an impressive wooden structure was created, almost the size of a house.’ In the first months of 1965, the first layer of concrete is poured. Moore is present at various stages of the construction.

Moore also travels to Otterlo for the unveiling of the sculpture group on 10 April 1965. To mark the unveiling, a publication is also released with texts by John Russell, Henry Moore and Bram Hammacher.

The Amon Carter Museum in Forth Worth (Texas) and the Tate Gallery in London later acquire the same assembled group, the latter of which is on long-term loan at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton (England). However, Three Upright Motives was presented as a group for the first time in Otterlo, and only for the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller did Moore create a pedestal to accompany the sculpture group.