Moore used Square Forms - Eleven studies for sculptures to develop the models for the Time Life building in London, which was completed 1951-53. There are four Moore sculptures integrated into a screen around the building's terrace, visible from New Bond Street. Interestingly, at one stage Moore had the idea of trying to make the four components of the frieze revolve, but the building work was too advanced and the concept too expensive to carry out. Such a critical degree of experimentation is evident in the present work on paper, where each of the eleven studies is unique in design.

As one of the most influential public sculptors of the last century, Moore closely studied Classical, pre-Columbian and African art, and did many significant drawings as part of the creative process whilst creating original and truly modern sculptural forms. But his drawings were not just studies; Moore regarded them as significant works in their own right. His abstractions of organic shapes, natural forms and figures, developed through formidable draughtsmanship, would form an enduring vocabulary reflecting the universality of the human condition.

Moore was given his first major retrospective abroad by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946. He won the International Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale of 1948. In the 1950s he executed several important public commissions among them Reclining Figure, 1956–58, for the UNESCO Building in Paris. Moore was awarded the British Order of Merit in 1963 and in 1978 an exhibition of his work organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain was held at the Serpentine in London, at which time he gave many of his sculptures to the Tate Gallery, London.