Paul de Monchaux was born in Montreal in 1934 and studied at the Art Students League, New York (1952-1954) and at the Slade School of Fine Art (1955 - 1958). After teaching at Goldsmiths College (1960-1965), he went on to become Head of Sculpture and Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art. In 1986, de Monchaux retired from teaching to focus his attention on his own work.
‘Leaving a trace’ or creating a ‘landmark’ is how Paul de Monchaux defines his aspiration for sculptural mnemonics. To wander among his elegant, enigmatic sculptures is to be enveloped in the artist’s own contemplative stillness of a mysterious and mesmerising landscape. At the core of de Monchaux’s work is the belief that ‘formal invention alone can generate emotional responses that have no names, perhaps the most enduring and powerful kind’. The dexterity with which de Monchaux moves from one form to another, and his success in articulating and engaging with both his medium and his audience, has resulted in him being awarded many public commissions. These include Oozells Square, Birmingham (1998); ‘Song’ - the BBC Churchill Memorial (2005); ‘Silence’, Jersey (2007); ‘Breath’, Norwich Memorial Gardens (2011) and most recently 'Girton Column', Girton College Cambridge. ‘Breath’ is a companion piece to Sir Edwin Lutyens’ war memorial, which is located outside Norwich Town Hall. The inscription beneath the sculpture states: ‘The living honour the dead, only a breath divides them’.
De Monchaux regards himself as a ‘figurative sculptor’, responding to ‘things’ rather than concepts or ideas with visual references that are often submerged or refined beyond recognition. His works remain intriguingly elusive making us feel that the object is never completely disclosed.
The Piper Gallery is the first commercial gallery to represent de Monchaux, who currently lives and works in London.
‘Leaving a trace’ or creating a ‘landmark’ is how Paul de Monchaux defines his aspiration for sculptural mnemonics. To wander among his elegant, enigmatic sculptures is to be enveloped in the artist’s own contemplative stillness of a mysterious and mesmerising landscape. At the core of de Monchaux’s work is the belief that ‘formal invention alone can generate emotional responses that have no names, perhaps the most enduring and powerful kind’. The dexterity with which de Monchaux moves from one form to another, and his success in articulating and engaging with both his medium and his audience, has resulted in him being awarded many public commissions. These include Oozells Square, Birmingham (1998); ‘Song’ - the BBC Churchill Memorial (2005); ‘Silence’, Jersey (2007); ‘Breath’, Norwich Memorial Gardens (2011) and most recently 'Girton Column', Girton College Cambridge. ‘Breath’ is a companion piece to Sir Edwin Lutyens’ war memorial, which is located outside Norwich Town Hall. The inscription beneath the sculpture states: ‘The living honour the dead, only a breath divides them’.
De Monchaux regards himself as a ‘figurative sculptor’, responding to ‘things’ rather than concepts or ideas with visual references that are often submerged or refined beyond recognition. His works remain intriguingly elusive making us feel that the object is never completely disclosed.
The Piper Gallery is the first commercial gallery to represent de Monchaux, who currently lives and works in London.
The Piper Gallery 2012