Explore the Background of this artwork, Sheep Piece 1971–72.
Moore was inspired by seeing sheep in the fields outside his windows at Perry Green, Hertfordshire.  He made many sketches of the animals, which he described as "rather shapeless balls of wool, with a head and four legs. Then I began to realise that underneath all that wool was a body, which moved in its own way, and that each sheep had its individual character."The sculpture includes two forms, representing two animals – possibly two adult sheep, or a ewe with a lamb.  Moore later wrote "The sculpture is in two related forms. One is solid and passive, resting firmly on the ground and strongly resistant - the other form, slightly larger and more active and powerful, but yet it leans on the lower form, needing it for support." When Moore placed a cast of the sculpture in a field in Hertfordshire, he was pleased to see sheep sheltering under it or scratching themselves on it. 
In the book Makers of Modern Culture, Patrick Conner describes the "power" of Sheep Piece as not only lying in the "physical confirmation of two massive structures but also in the psychological overtones of warmth and protectiveness that their relationship suggests".
Perry Green, Hertfordshire