[Nude with Cat]


c. 1948-50
(approx. 10"h by 5"w)
Sculpture in mahogany.


NOTE:  Cox wrote to the South African collector Corrie Guyt, 'Between 1948-50 I did about 25 small sculptures in wood with just a few in plaster. Most of these sold readily although I was not anxious to sell them. They were done mainly to explore in my own way certain possibilities in the 'round'. Many artists find a need to do this at some time in their lives (painters, I mean). The few I have kept have a special meaning for me and I would not like to part with them.' (GOGMAGOG 82). According to Alan Tucker, this present example was carved from a mahogany paving block that used to be in a London street. This most charming figure seems indebted to both Egyptian figural art as well as Henry Moore, but the choice of both the female nude and the cat are very familar subjects in Cox's art. While there are other sculptures (some in the African/primitive mode, and those which are overtly surrealist), the present example might well be the most immediatly approachable and appealing.
Trustees of the Morris Cox Estate