The bronze sculpture Family Group (1947) shows a man and a woman facing each other, forming a protective shield around the boy and girl on their laps. The forms trace a rhythm that runs through the sculpture. The figures are abstracted and integrated into a larger form reminiscent of an architectural construction or a water-worn rock. The figures do not have individual features. Their eyes are marked by slight indentations. The adults’ figures are similar, but the woman’s breasts are emphasized, more as emblematic of womanhood than a realistic representation of the female body. The sculpture shows the family as a unit in which all are interdependent. With his family groups, Moore became part of a venerable artistic tradition. The motif has a prominent role in Christian iconography, with the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
Kristoffer Arvidsson from The Collection Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg 2014
