Paul Raphael Montford
Born 1 November 1868
Died 15 January 1938
Active: 1892 - 1938
Country of birth: United Kingdom
Country of death: Australia
Sculptor, teacher
Born in Kentish Town, London. Died in Melbourne, Australia. He married Marion Alice Dibden, a portrait and miniature painter. One of Paul's sisters, Edwina Montford, married Philip Charles Bursill who was the nephew of the sculptor, Henry Wayte Bursill (c.1833-71). Paul Montford 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. Between 1893-1919 Paul received a number of commissions, including sculpture for Battersea Polytechnic, Battersea Town Hall, and the bridge at Kelvingrove, Glasgow.
From 1919 he struggled to obtain new commissions and so moved to Australia in January 1923. The same year he was appointed modelling master at Gordon Technical Institute, Geelong. He was also proposed as the director of a sculpture school at the National Gallery of Victoria but the project did not materialize. Paul was active in various societies including being President of the Victorian Artists' Society in 1930-31. He struggled to obtain commissions in Australia and died of leukemia as a result of a large dose of radium administered for tonsilitis.
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Sir Lewis Morris
1901
Marian
1901
Spinning Girl
1901
Burns
1901
Commerce and Industry
1904 (Presumed)
Music and Poetry
1904 (Presumed)
Locations
Address 8 Winder's Road Falcon Lane London | View on map
1892 (Circa) - 1897 (Circa)
Address 26 Larkhall Rise Clapham London SW | View on map
1901 (Circa) - 1906 (Circa)
Studio located at Anhalt Studio Albert Bridge London SW | View on map
1907 (Circa) - 1922 (Circa)
Also used by his wife Marian Montford (née Dibdin), painter between c.1913-20
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1897
'Charmeuse'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1892 - 1936
Exhibited 33 times (including 4 times after his move to Australia in 1923), usually showed two works.
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1892
1892
Jacob Wrestling with an Angel (cat. no. 1358, group, bronzed, prize group RA medal, £300); Nyanthe at the Fountain (cat. no. 1368, plaster, bronzed, £10, in bronze £20).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fourth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1894
1894
The Spinning Girl (cat. no. 1288, plaster statue, in bronze £500, in marble £700); Decorative Design, Battersea Town Hall (cat. no. 1314, relief, not for sale); Portrait of an Artist (cat. no. 1324, bronze, not for sale); In the Springtime (cat. no. 1331, bronzed plaster, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1898
1898
Sir Lewis Morris (cat. no. 1400, not for sale); The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone (cat. no. 1407, bronze, £50, also for sale in marble £75); Death and the Boy (cat. no. 1430, not for sale).
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Glasgow, 1901
1901
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1901
1901
Statuette (cat. no. 1613, not for sale).
Participant in Competition for a National War Memorial, Melbourne (Royal Society of British Sculptors), 1923
1923 (Presumed)
Awarded the prize.
Participant in Competition for a statue of General Botha, South Africa (Royal Society of Arts), 1927-1928
1927 - 1928
The Royal Society of British Sculptors 'Annual Report', (1928), notes that 'although the commission was awarded to an Italian, Mr. Montford received a premium of £75'.
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1891
Institutional and Business Connections
Committee member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1921 - 1922
Elected to serve on the Exhibitions Committee.
Fellow of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1938
Died in 1938.
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1938
Amongst the second wave of those invited to join 'without further nomination' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]. Died in 1938.
Member of council Royal Society of British Sculptors
15 May 1911 - 1922
Was elected to fill position left when MacGillivray resigned from council [15 May 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1]. Listed as a Member of the Council from 1919 onwards
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1888 (Presumed) - 1891 (Presumed)
Awarded a second prize silver medal of a model of a figure from the life, in 1888. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1888', (1889), p. 30. In 1890, Montford won a silver medal of a model of a design containing figure and ornament. See 'Annual Report, 1890', (1891), p. 29. The following year, Montford won the gold medal and travelling scholarship of £200 in sculpture, and was awarded the Landseer scholarship for sculpture. See 'Annual Report, 1891', (1892), pp. 31-32.
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Despite nomination in 1918 and partial nomination in 1926.
Personal and Professional Connections
Daughter/son/child of Horace Montford
Nominated by Arthur Stockdale Cope
1918 - February 1926
Two nominations for RA, in 1918 and 1926, both unsuccessful.
Nominated by (Edward) Alfred Briscoe Drury
1918
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by George James Frampton
1918
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Goscombe John
1918
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by (Edgar) Bertram Mackennal
1918
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of (Joseph) Hermon Cawthra
1921 (Presumed)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Nominator of Alexander R. Fraser
1921 (Circa)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor, Statue, Teacher [?]'
Sources
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
2006
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100542b.htm Jenny Zimmer, 'Montford, Paul Raphael (1868 - 1938)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed 16 October 2009
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth, 1898 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1898
pp. 45-48.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fourth, 1894 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1894
pp. 49-52.
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. Nos. 836, 837, p. 78
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN2263 RG78PN77 RD26 SD4 ED13 SN18
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1906-1927
1927
p.97.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of Council and Accounts For the Year ending 21 December 1922. To be Presented at the Eighteenth Ordinary General Meeting, 1923
26 February 1923
p. 1
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
2 March 1905; 15 May 1911.
Superb Buildings erected by E. Turner and Sons, Ltd, Builders and Contractors, Penarth Road, Cardiff
April 1929
p.14
Citing this record
'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 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1215096735, accessed 02 Oct 2023]
