Ronald Moody
Annie 2
1900-1984
This is the latter-day version of Annie (1938) the idealised portrait of Annie van Beuningen-Eschauzier, a friend and patron of Moody, which is in Sheffield Museums Collection. The 1938 work was carved in the first flush of a friendship that lasted until her death a few years earlier, carved from Dutch oak, and the wood itself likely connects to the Dutch provenance of the sitter.
Taking into account the difference in style and the technical demands of wood used, the two figures are strikingly alike, especially the features, and the pose is identical.
The work reflects Moody’s later interest in revisiting earlier themes and figures from his career. The change of material to Kohe-Kohe wood indicates Moody’s continued experimentation with carving materials in his later years. Kohe-Kohe was one of two native woods from New Zealand, sent to the artist in 1966 by a nephew who lived there.
By returning to the subject almost forty years later, Moody demonstrates a reflective approach to his own artistic history, revisiting earlier relationships and sculptural ideas.
