Moody, Victor Hume (1896-1990)

Moody, Victor Hume

PAINTER, ART TEACHER (ENGLAND)

BORN 10 Nov 1896, London - DIED 27 Nov 1990
GRAVE LOCATION Great Malvern, Worcestershire: Cemetery, Madresfield Road

William Moody studied at Battersea Polytechnic of Arts and Crafts from 1913 to 1920. His fellow student May Olive Willoughby (1898-1984) sat for him and he married her in 1919. In 1922 he left his home in Clapham and moved to Little Meadows with hs wife and his younger brother Arthur. They lived from a small income from his father, a brewer from Lambeth.

In 1926 he returned to London and he studied at the Royal College of Art. He was very short-sighted and had trouble seeing the models in the life drawing classes. But College Principal William Rothenstein
encouraged him and he studied the paintings in the national collections. After he left the Royal College of art he found his own style. He painted classical compositions as well as portraits. Living in Stroud, he started teaching at several schools. He befriended Charles March Gere and he became a member of the Cheltenham Group of Artists in 1934.

From 1935 to 1962 he was the headmaster of the Malvern School of Art. He was succeeded there by his daughter, Catherine Olive Moody. After the Second World War he mostly exhibited family portraits, but he continued to paint classical compositions as well and in 1958 "The Vengeance of Diana" was shown at the Royal Academy.

Images

The graves of Victor Hume Moody at Great Malvern Cemetery in Great Malvern, Worcestershire.
Picture by Androom (13 Nov 2025)