Ronald Moody: Sculptor

Ronald Moody (1900-1984) was a Jamaican born sculptor, specialising in wood carvings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Moody

Moody’s earliest and most dramatic works were carved from wood. With the most monumental of these Johanaan and Midonz Moody challenged the usually small scale imposed by the nature of wood. Because of lack of money he had to acquire wood from a variety of unusual sources – scrounging from yards and in one case, carving an old railway sleeper. The work shows his profound understanding of the nature of wood. He uses the pattern of the grain with great sensitivity to enhance the forms of the works – the broad grain of elm for example accentuate the curves of Johanaan’s chest and belly.

It’s said that Moody wanted to become a sculptor after encountering the magnificent Egyptian figures in the British Museum. These and the carvings of a wide variety of ancient and non-western cultures continued to inspire his work. This is probably one of the elements that gave them a universal quality, resisting any obvious racial or ethnic identification.

Moody is quite a neglected artist although he did have moderate success during his life, especially in the 1930s when he was first carving and living in Paris. He was born in Jamaica in 1900 but came to Britain to become a dentist.




http://www.tate.org.uk/magazine/issue4/reputationrestored.htm

http://www.iniva.org/harlem/ronald.html


Diane