Biography
Paul Mount (b. Newton Abbott, Devon, UK 1922 - d. St Just, Penznace, Cornwall 2009) studied at Paignton School of Art (1937-40), under the sculptor Alexander Sutcliffe, and later attended the Royal College of Art in London (1940-1 and 1946-8). During WW2 he drove for the Friends’ Ambulance Unit in North Africa and France. His sculptures are closely linked to architecture and reflect his love of music and movement, Romanesque design and African artefacts. After a spell of teaching at the Winchester School of Art in 1948, from 1955, he spent seven years in West Africa working as a design consultant on architectural projects in Nigeria, with his first wife, Jeanne Martin, a fellow RCA student, including setting up an art department at YABA College of Technology in Lagos. Mount had begun as a painter and continued to make paintings as a vital accompaniment to his three-dimensional work. His sculptures evolved directly from scale models made in makeshift and versatile materials like card, wax and polystyrene. In 1962 he settled in Nancherrow, Cornwall and, in 1978, married the painter, June Miles (1924 - 2021). His first London show was held at Drian Gallery in 1964 and Mount later showed with John Whibley Gallery on Cork Street; Marlborough Fine Art 9185); New Art Centre, Roche Court; Penwith Society of Arts, St Ives; Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall (2001); and Beaux Arts Bath (2003). Mount also worked closely with architects, producing integral sculpture as part of buildings all over the world, from Chase Manhattan Bank in Lagos to a supermarket in Falmouth. Other commissions include the Spirit of Bristol (1968-70) in St James's Square, Bristol; the British Steel Corporation, London and the Cabinet Offices, Accra, Ghana. For Mount, sculpture expressed an essential human dignity. "The way that two shapes relate," he observed, "is as important as the way two people relate." His work is held in many European collections, and in America and Nigeria.
