Petrine Archer [.com]

The organisers of a recent Black Atlantic conference in Liverpool have launched a site devoted to the subject where all the materials from the conference as well as more useful resources can be found. The site, Black Atlantic Resource established by the University of Liverpool was inspired by the exhibition and publication Afro Modern: Journeys Through the Black Atlantic that took place at the TATE Liverpool in the spring. The Resource offers artists profiles, research documents, videos, podcasts, a blog and an extensive bibliography all related to the African Diaspora. It's a fairly ambitious site for a subject that has received insufficient attention, especially in the UK and it is significant that it has been launched in Liverpool, a city with such questionable connections to the history of slavery. If it can be sustained, it might prove to be an important archive for scholars interested in black art now..., take a look, it's worth a visit.

Born in Kingston to a well-to-do family, Moody left Jamaica at aged 23, initially to pursue a career in dentistry. This was not necessarily his first choice, he was already widely read in Chinese and Indian metaphysics and showed an aptitude for the arts. While still a student he visited the British Museum and was so affected by the Egyptian and Asian collections there that he taught himself to carve. By the time he had completed his dental studies in 1930, he had also become a proficient artist creating significant works such as Wohin (1934; Sacramento, CA, Adolf Loeb priv. co.), and Johanaan (1935; London, Tate). These gigantic heads are archaised forms that pay homage to Eastern philosophy rather than Greek classicism. They communicated an idealised and universal understanding of man’s origins that went against the grain of fascist tendencies already apparent in prewar Europe. The success of these pieces and his first exhibition in Europe encouraged Moody to move to Paris where he stayed until the outbreak of the war when he was forced to flee the German occupation. After a hazardous journey across the Pyranees into Spain, he made it back to London in 1941 stricken with pleuracy that would plague him for the rest of his life.