In the summer of 1938, the sculptor Ronald Moody might have been forgiven for thinking that the path of his career was set. He had exhibited alongside Jacob Epstein, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, and his work was being well reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic. He moved from London to Paris, where he got married and began moving among a community of artist friends that included Man Ray and Wifredo Lam. Describing the headily productive atmosphere of the city at that time he recalled it as “so much like champagne, and yet where the artist can find peace and time for contemplation”.
Of course, the cataclysm of the second world war soon ended this idyll, and it also dramatically changed what Moody did and how he was regarded. While he continued to sculpt, he also became a broadcaster, poet, teacher, organiser, mentor and much more.
