Focus on Three Standing Figures 1947 and explain the History.
Moore began with a terracotta model made c.1945; its present location is unknown, but there are two known plaster copies, one at the Henry Moore Foundation and one on long-term loan to the Tate Gallery. Moore also cast a bronze edition of four (plus one artist's copy) between 1948 and 1949; an additional artist's cast was made in 1985.  Examples of these sculptures are held in the Smith College Museum of Art in Massachusetts and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
The work in Battersea Park was carved between August 1947 and May 1948 from Darley Dale sandstone, one of the last statues that Moore made from English stone.  It was originally conceived to fulfil a commission from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, but it was instead exhibited at London County Council's first Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition at Battersea Park in 1948. (MOMA took instead a cast of Moore's first large bronze, Family Group from The Barclay School in Stevenage, itself originally intended for Walter Gropius's Impington Village College.)
Moore was a member of the selection committee for the Open-Air Exhibition, and his sculpture was used on the publicity poster. It was sited in a prominent position, at the top of a slight rise in ground, with trees behind. His reputation grew dramatically from 1948, when he was a selected as Britain's greatest living artist for the 24th Venice Biennale and won the sculpture prize. The sculpture was lent for the Open-Air Exhibition in 1948, and then bought by the Contemporary Art Society and donated to London County Council. It has been permanently sited in Battersea Park in Battersea, London, in 1950.
Venice Biennale London County Council Henry Moore Foundation Henry Moore Darley Dale Impington Village College Tate Tate Gallery Contemporary Art Society Battersea Park Battersea Walter Gropius Family Group Museum of Modern Art Peggy Guggenheim Collection The Barclay School London Smith College Museum of Art