Paul de Monchaux (born 1934) has been an influential presence in Britain over the last fifty years, inspiring generations with his beautifully made and measured sculptures. De Monchaux began his career as a student at the Slade School of Art in 1955; ten years later he was teaching at Camberwell School of Art, where he worked for over twenty years as Head of Sculpture and Head of Fine Art. Early portraits and 'Head' and 'Handworks' from the 1960s and 1970s reveal an artist who combined thinking and making in subtle and unusual ways, privileging form over material and blending geometry with intuitive shaping. The stunning carved stone sculptures for which he has become well known reward careful and prolonged attention and reveal a subtly contemplative sculptural imagination, not unlike that of Constantin Brancusi, who was been a huge inspiration to de Monchaux over the years. His public projects, begun in the 1980s, have also been critically acclaimed, and later works such as Song (2005), Silence (2007) and Breath (2011), all illustrated in this book, show a mature artist with a rare and highly poetic sculptural sensibility.

About the Author

Natalie Rudd was Senior Curator of the Arts Council Collection until 2021, before which she held curatorial posts at Southbank Centre, the University of Manchester and Tate Liverpool. She has published several books on modern and contemporary British art.

Jon Wood is an art historian and curator specialising in modern and contemporary sculpture, and a trustee of the Gabo Trust for Sculpture Conservation. He worked for 20 years at the Henry Moore Institute, running its research programme and organising exhibitions.

Paul de Monchaux was born in Montreal in 1934 and studied at the Art Students League, New York (1952-54) and the Slade School of Fine Art (1955-58). After teaching at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (1958-60) and Goldsmiths College of Art (1960-65), he became Head of Sculpture and Head of Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art. In 1986 he retired from teaching to focus attention on his own work. De Monchaux's public commissions include Oozells Square, Birmingham (1998); Silence, Jersey (2007); Breath, Norwich Memorial Gardens (2001) and, most recently, Girton Column, Girton College, Cambridge (2012). He lives and works in London.

Book Information
ISBN 9781909932494
Author Natalie Rudd
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Ridinghouse
Publisher Ridinghouse