In the summer of 1938, sculptor Ronald Moody could be forgiven for thinking that his career path was set. He had exhibited with Jacob Epstein, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth, and Henry Moore, and his work was well reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic. He moved from London to Paris, where he married and began living among a community of artist friends, including Man Ray and Wifredo Lam. Describing the city’s dizzyingly productive atmosphere at the time, he recalled that it was “the place where the artist could find time for peace and contemplation, even though it was very much like champagne.”
Of course, the catastrophe of World War II soon brought this paradise to an end, and also dramatically changed Moody’s actions and perspective towards him. While he continued to sculpt, he also became a publisher, poet, teacher, organizer, mentor, and much more.
Ronald Moody: Sculpting Life (Thames & Thames & Hudson) and co-curator of the first major exhibition dedicated to his work at Hepworth Wakefield. By bringing together the art of Moody and his contemporaries with archival material, it sheds new light on his diverse life and career.
“It is just over 100 years since Moody came to England from Jamaica and 40 years since his death,” he continues. “So it feels like a good time to examine what he brings to the table. The label of a pioneer of modernism in the 1930s is accurate, but he lived a long time after that, and everything else he did is significant in terms of looking at both his work and his impact on the world around him.
Moody was born in Jamaica in 1900 into a wealthy professional family with strong ties to law and medicine. If he initially had any artistic ambitions, they were not encouraged, and when he went to London in 1923 it was to study dentistry, not art. But after a chance visit to the Egyptian rooms at the British Museum, Moody began sculpting, initially using plaster of Paris left over from surgery, and over time his focus changed. “It’s not like his medical background was wasted,” says Ahaiwe Sowinski. “His understanding of physiology informed his sculptures, and his exemplary record-keeping skills were a great help to those who wanted to learn about his work many years later.”
There was internationalism in Moody’s activities in the 1930s, with associations established with Harlem Renaissance artists in the United States as well as distinguished artists in England and Paris. His traumatic escape from the Nazis – a perilous 16-month journey through Marseille and eventually across the Pyrenees – had a lasting impact on his health.
Returning to London, he began broadcasting the BBC radio series Calling the West Indies in the UK and abroad, and then embarked on quite a variety of activities, which he continued until the end of his life, including associations with the newly formed Caribbean Artists Movement. One such bust is of comic actor Terry-Thomas, who, in addition to doing business in the mainstream of British culture, is also a family friend for whom his wife worked for many years.
“And there was a lot of untold work behind the scenes supporting artists, exhibitions, and organizations,” says Ahaiwe Sowinski. “Some artists just make art, but Moody was also an ambassador and that’s part of his legacy; You can trace the importance of this work to many artists today. He allows us to make new connections, and while this exhibition returns to his work, it is also an invitation to new research and new understandings of what he achieved. I hope this will be both a summary and a beginning.”
At Moody: four works from the Hepworth show
Savacou, 1964
Commissioned for the epidemiological research unit of the University of the West Indies, this sculpture was described by Moody as an “abstracted parrot form” of Caribbean origin. The design was later used as the rosin logo of the Caribbean Artists Movement magazine.
Johanaan, 1936
While Moody continued to work with a wide variety of materials, he was best known for his work with wood. This monumental early carving was made from an elm trunk given to him by his future wife, Helene.
Human…Universe, 1969
A later work in glass resin depicts the duality of humanity through the depiction of a Janus head surrounded by a mythical hybrid creature with the feet of a lion, the body of a snake, and the head of a bird.
Marseille Figure, 1940-43
Moody carved this tiny 11cm figure when he returned to England after escaping from France. It was made from a piece of mahogany given to him as a Christmas present by fellow refugees in Marseille, and he carried it with him as a sort of talisman for the rest of his life.
Ronald Moody: Shaping Life at Hepworth Wakefield November 3. Ronald Moody: Sculpting Life by Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski is published by Thames & Hudson (£30).