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John Moody (1906 - 1993)

Houlgate, view along the bay with red sails, 11th September 1926

SKU: 4698

Signed and inscribed on reverse, Houlgate, 11 Sept 26
Oil on board, 6 1/2  x  8 3/4 in. (16 x 22 cm.)

Presentation:
unframed

Size:
Height – 16cm x Width – 22cm

DESCRIPTION

John Moody’s painting spree
in Houlgate (Calvados Dept of Normandy) was motivated by
light. His paintings on both sides of the Channel coasts around this
time are literally filled by light – huge skies, seascapes, white cliffs and
rolling sand dunes. You are made to feel the rush of air, the smell of the sea
and the reflection of light off water. He was 20 in 1926 when the Houlgate
sketches were undertaken. Two years later his Knocke series, on the Belgian
coast, retain similar characteristics whilst adopting  a slightly surreal
imagery.

‘Jack,’ as he was better
known, took every opportunity to paint and draw when he was
young,¬†causing his parents to wonder if he’d ever find a way to earn any
money. A letter from a family friend in December 1926 cautions
him on life as an artist: "I am very interested in seeing that you have taken up
lettering and I congratulate you on your success. I think you have done a wise
and practical thing in taking up commercial art, but it would be a pity if you
did nothing else. At the start I am afraid you can’t live on doing work that
will live, but you may live on doing work that will not live."

By 1930 Jack, as a founder
member of the New Kingston Group, was exhibiting work around the country and in
1931 was teaching Architecture and Perspective at the Wimbledon School of Art.
Facing penury however he enrolled as a singer at the Webber Douglas School of
Singing which was to draw him inexorably into theatre life Рand eventually
into the world of opera, for which he is best remembered. He never lost
his love of painting.

We are grateful to Richard Thompson for the above catalogue note

 

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THE ARTIST

John Moody
John
Moody
1906 - 1993

After training at the Royal Academy Schools and working from a studio offered to him by Eric Ravilious (1903 – 1942) and Edward Bawden (1903 – 1989), by the 1930’s, Moody was exhibiting at a variety of London venues and teaching at Wimbledon School of Art; he also became a founder member of the New Kingston Group of painters.  Fascinated by the Theatre he was later well known as an opera producer, commissioning stage sets from John Piper and Robert Medley. 

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