Moore’s early sculptures were stone and marble carvings, whose forms expressed the hard-to-penetrate blockiness of their material. The modelled, sinuous and viscous forms of Reclining figure epitomise Moore’s impatience with the limitations of carving, and mark a new, more freely expressive phase in his craft. The tibia and ankle, the tense arc of the arms and pectoral shelf, a torso that resembles a crab’s claw, the psychological component of the head distilled into a groove, all exude a sense of creative release.