Henry Moore’s blueprint

The term ’blueprint’ embraces the essence of any creator’s actions, visualizations,
thoughts and feelings conveyed physically in the making of art. My observation
is that every human being holds within them a combined heritage of characteristics, likes
and dislikes, that make them who they are. Actions imprinted upon matter may represent
this richness. All of these qualities, when assembled and marked down on paper, clay,
etc., leave visual signs that create a unique fingerprint. This essential imprint will develop
and become enriched throughout our life, if given the chance.
I call this phenomenon of a creator’s unique fingerprint the Spiritual Blueprint. 

When I was an art-history student at the Jerusalem University, at the 70ies, I used to sit “in the lap” of a Henry Moore’s sculpture located on the grass. I loved touching the metal, and I could recognize the memory of skin, cloth and clay. Instinctively, I was thinking of him idealizing strong mothers and women. I was thinking about human goddesses.

It is said that when Henry Moore was a child, he used to massage his mother’s aching back with oil. One can thus surmise how his monumental image of “woman” came into being. While his sculptures aren’t necessarily enormous, they certainly convey a small boy’s momentous tactile experience of his mother’s massive, matronly body.  On Materials in Art and Art therapy, 2003