Henry Moore

The British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986), sometimes associated with constructivism, declared several times that, starting from 1937, the usage of a rope in his sculpture was inspired by the mathematical models that he had seen at the Science Museum in London.
"I was fascinated by the mathematical models I saw there, which had been made to illustrate the difference of the form that is halfway between a square and a circle. One model had a square at one end with 20 holes along each side [--] Through these holes strings were threaded and led to a circle with the same number of holes at the other end. A plane interposed through the middle shows the form that is halfway between a square and a circle [--] It wasn't the scientific study of these models but the ability to look through the strings as with a bird cage and to see one form within another which excited me".
(John Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, Henry Spencer Moore, New York, 1968; p. 105)

The influence of these models can be seen for example in works like Stringed Figure No. 1 (1937, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC).

Henry Moore, Stringed Figure No. 1 (1937, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC)Stringed Figure No. 1, 1937(from Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, 1989)