Ronald Moody. Midonz, 1937. Tate Britain. © Estate of Ronald Moody. Image used with permission of Tate images.
Midonz is a 1937 work by Moody that was lost for nearly 50 years after being shown in Baltimore in 1939. The piece is said to almost glow in person. The grain animates the piece so that as you look upon it the facial expression subtly changes. One of the most amazing qualities about Midonz is the timeless serenity it exudes.
Midonz is a part of a trinity of Heroic sculptures created by Moody in the 1930s. The trinity includes Wohin (1935) and Tacet (1938). It is thought Moody made them from the same piece of elm wood. All three sculptures are interconnected: Midonz has been described as “the female counterpart to Wohin” while it has also been said “Tacet is, in turn clearly the male counterpart of Midonz.” They display Moody’s “passionate concern with the exploration of the inner life of man and the possibilities of evolution through self-awareness.”
Work Cited
Moody, Cynthia. “Midonz.” Transition, no. 77 (1998): 10-18. doi:10.2307/2903197.
Black Artists in the Museum 