Introduction
According to the Mapping Sculpture site, Montford, who was born in Kentish Town, London, “studied in his father's studio and then at Lambeth School of Art (1884-5). In 1887 he entered the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded a number of medals and a travelling scholarship. From 1898-1903 he was modelling master at Chelsea School of Art.” After this promising beginning and subsequent commissions to provide sculpture for the Victoria and Albert Museum, the New War Offices, Battersea Polytechnic, Battersea Town Hall, and the bridge at Kelvingrove, Glasgow, he seems to have difficulty obtaining commissions both in Great Britain and in Australia, where he emigrated in 1919. His difficulty in obtainign commissions seems surprising given both his obvious skill and the large number of monuments and memorials required after the First World War.
Works
- Philosophy and Inspiration, Kelvin Way Bridge, Glasgow
- William Caxton, Victoria & Albert Museum
- George Heriot, Victoria & Albert Museum
- Victory freize, Whitehall, London
- The Flow (model of a group for the Town Hall, Cardiff)
- Alfred Beit, Sir Julius Wernher, and four allegorical figures, Royal College of Mines
- Commerce and Industry, Cardiff City Hall
- Music and Poetry, Cardiff City Hall
- A Girl Spinning
- Elf-Babes
- The Bather
- A Favourite of the Gods
- Center panel of memorial for the bandsmen who went down with the “Titanic”
- Water-Nymph
Bibliography
Beattie, Susan. The New Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
“Paul Raphael Montford.” Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.
Pevsner, Nikolaus and Bridget Cherry. London Volume One. London: Penguin Books, 1989.
Speel, Bob. "A Walk down Whitehall." Web. 21 May 2011.
Last modified 22 February 2017