Article relating to an individual, 1950
Published by: The Studio
Year published: 1950
Number of pages: 2

An invaluable appraisal of Moody and his work appeared in British magazine The Studio, in a January 1950 issue of the magazine. The writer, Marie Seton had the measure of Moody when, early on in the text, she expressed the view that the sculptor’s work, “which is concerned with man as an evolving type, is unique, haunting and far from easy to label.”

The wide ranging text recalled moments of high drama in Moody’s life, particularly his escaping, with his wife, from Nazi-occupied France. He had earlier moved to Paris, where his first one-man exhibition took place towards the end of 1937 at the Galerie Billiet-Vorms.

Recounting Moody’s flight, Seton wrote, “Then the German juggernaut approached Paris and many of Moody’s most beautiful works were dispersed across occupied France. Moody and his wife escaped from Paris with the stream of refugees and finally reached Marseilles on foot. For months the existence of a refugee kept him inactive. This terrible period has left its mark upon his later work, accomplished when at last he escaped to England (by the daring act of walking across the Pyrenees into Spain and crossing that country with the help of the ‘underground’ to Gibraltar.”

Clearly a great admirer of Moody’s work, Seton noted, “With each work he has captured a greater degree of sensitivity within the human spirit and achieved a greater and more subtle feeling of spiritual unity.”

The text was illustrated with four monochrome reproductions of Moody’s work, inluding The Late Dr Harold A. Moody Brother of the Sculptor, 1946 and Midonz, 1937.