In this artwork, how is the Reception discussed?
The completed sculpture was delivered in 1938, but Chermayeff had paid only the £50 deposit of the £300 price before he became bankrupt in 1939.  Chermayeff suggested to Moore that he could take the sculpture back and resell it.  Moore returned the deposit and the sculpture was returned to him.  At the suggestion of Kenneth Clark, it was offered to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, but the gallery declined.  Clark then arranged for the Contemporary Art Society to buy it for £300, and the society presented it to the Tate Gallery in 1939.  The Tate's previous director JB Manson had said Moore would appear in the gallery over his dead body; Manson retired in 1938, and his successor John Rothenstein was much more welcoming.
The sculpture went on loan for display at the British Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and was still in the US when the Second World War broke out.  Along with several other works by British sculptors, it was kept in MOMA's sculpture garden in New York during the war, where it suffered damage from the cold winter weather.  It was vandalised by a group of US Marines one night in 1944, pushed off its plinth and the head broken off.  After being repaired, and the end of the war, it returned to the Tate in 1946.  It was displayed at the first London County Council open-air sculpture exhibition at Battersea Park from May 1948, alongside other works by Moore including his Three Standing Figures 1947.
The sculpture became a popular feature at the Tate Gallery in London.  It was selected as the example of Moore's work to be depicted on a tile mural at Pimlico Underground station, near the gallery, in 1972.  It was also one of twelve Moore sculptures included in the "Sculpture for the Blind" exhibition at the Tate in 1972, when blind and partially sighted visitors were encouraged to touch the artworks.
London County Council John Rothenstein US Marines JB Manson Pimlico Underground station Tate 1939 New York World's Fair Tate Gallery Contemporary Art Society Battersea Park Three Standing Figures 1947 Kenneth Clark Museum of Modern Art