Ronald Moody | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ronald Clive Moody (1900-08-12)12 August 1900 |
| Died | 6 February 1984(1984-02-06) (aged 83) London, England |
| Resting place | Galveston Memorial Park |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | Wohin (1934);Johanaan (1936);Midonz (1937);Savacou (1964) |
| Movement | Caribbean Artists Movement |
Ronald Moody (12 August 1900 – 6 February 1984) was aJamaican-born sculptor, specialising in wood carvings. His work features in collections including theNational Portrait Gallery andTate Britain in London, as well as theNational Gallery of Jamaica. He was the brother of anti-racist campaignerHarold Moody and award-winning physiologistLudlow Moody.
Moody was born Ronald Clive Moody in 1900 inKingston, Jamaica, into a well-off professional family. He attended Calabar College, Jamaica, moving to England in 1923 to study dentistry atKing's College London, obtaining his degree in 1930.[1] In London, he was inspired by theBritish Museum's collection of non-Western art and decided to become a sculptor. Early experiments with clay led him to teach himself how to carve. He produced his first carved figure in oak wood. EntitledWohin (meaning in German "where to?”, the name of a song bySchubert),[2] that sculpture was bought byMarie Seton in 1935.[3]
Among Moody's most famous works from this period was his great female head,Midonz (1937),[4] which he described as "the goddess of transmutation".[5] By the late 1930s, he had accumulated an impressive collection of work and had a solo show inParis, France. The success of the show encouraged him to move to Paris in 1938. That year, 12 major sculptures were sent to theHarmon Foundation in the United States to be included in exhibitions at theBaltimore Museum of Art and theDallas Museum of Art.[6] Moody's success in France was cut short by the onset of theSecond World War. In 1940, two days before Paris fell to the Germans, he was forced to flee the city, abandoning his sculptures.[7] (They were retrieved after the war, along with the works that had been sent to the US for exhibition.)[1]
After having escaped from Paris, Moody travelled throughoccupied France, across thePyrenees into Spain, and eventually arrived back in England in October 1941.[7] His Paris success followed him to London, where he resumed his work after the war and had a one-man show in May 1946 at the Arcade Gallery, offBond Street.[8] In 1946 he cast a bronze head of his eldest brotherHarold Moody (1882–1947, founder of theLeague of Coloured Peoples).[9]
From 1950 until the early 1960s regular London exhibitions brought Ronald Moody a growing presence on the British art scene. In 1964 he created a sculpture calledSavacou for theUniversity of the West Indies (UWI),[10] a stylised depiction of a bird, which is sited on the UWI campus atMona, Jamaica. He is among those artists associated with theCaribbean Artists Movement (CAM) that was founded in London (1966–72).[11]
Moody died in London in 1984, aged 83.[2] His niece Cynthia Moody, who inherited his estate, thereafter devoted herself to documenting and promoting her uncle's work.[12]
In 1977 Moody was given the JamaicanMusgrave Gold Medal, and in 1980 the Centenary Medal by theInstitute of Jamaica, although no major exhibitions of his work took place on his native island during his lifetime.[13]
In 2000 the first substantial exhibition of his work took place at the National Gallery of Jamaica.[14] His work featured in the exhibitionNo Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990 held at theGuildhall Art Gallery, London, from 10 July 2015 to 24 January 2016.[15]
Moody crater onMercury was named after him in November 2008.[16][17]
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