Ben Uri collection

Work by Moshe Oved

Biography

Writer, sculptor, and founder of the antique jewellery shop Cameo Corner, Moshe Oved (aka Edward Goodack or Edward Good) was born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1885. In 1903 he immigrated to England and settled in London’s East End, where he initially worked as a watchmaker. He was a founding member of the Ben Uri Society in 1915 and a great supporter of Yiddish culture, holding an honorary office within Ben Uri from its inception until 1956, and always maintaining that its main goal should be to collect pictures and open a gallery. The collection in these years was influenced by his taste as he helped to fund and facilitate the acquisition of a number of important early works by artists including Simeon Solomon, Jacob Kramer, David Bomberg and Samuel Hirszenberg. Oved collected 124 autobiographical stories and short tales in his book Visions and Jewels (1925), and included anecdotes about Max Nordau, Sholem Asch and Jacob Epstein, among many others. His other volume, The Book of Affinity (1933) was a deluxe production with original colour lithographs by Epstein. Oved also presented two busts by Epstein to Ben Uri in 1947.

According to a story, it was while sheltering in the basement of Cameo Corner during the Blitz, that Oved first began modelling animal design rings to steady his trembling hands. He took up sculpting at the end of the war. In 1948 an exhibition, Sculptural Expressions by Mosheh Oved, comprising 16 bronze heads, 15 'Beasts and Birds', 7 'Candlebra in commemoration of the 6,000,000 exterminated Jews' and a piece described as 'Chessman', executed between 1946 and 1948, was held at St George's Gallery, 81 Grosvenor Street, London, then under the directorship of Viennese émigré Lea Bondi Jaray (1880–1969). A foreword describes how 'At the age of 60 Mosheh Oved long known as a writer has found a new way of expressing his fantasies and visions through the medium of sculpture. This exhibition is the product of the last two years work'.

The Ben Uri Collection also has a 1924 portrait of Moshe Oved by fellow Polish artist Maurice Minkowski (1881–1930).

Search Ben Uri archive for more information about Moshe Oved

12 work/s by this artist from the collection are shown below. For a more detailed record and image please click on the link.

Head

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1987-310

Menorah

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1987-311

Chanukiah with Doves

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-36a

Dawn

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-38

Untitled

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-39

The Inflictor Inflicted

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-40

Shabbat Rest

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-41

Vision

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-42

Genesis

Object type sculpture

Accession number 1988-43

Designs for Commemorative Rings (II)

Object type drawing

Accession number 1988-44

Designs for Commemorative Rings (I)

Object type drawing

Accession number 1988-45

Eastern-European Mystic Jew

Object type sculpture

Accession number 2016-29