Paul Mount studied painting at the Royal College of Art until 1941 when he was called up for war service and served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in North Africa and France until 1946. After returning to London and finishing his studies at the Royal College, Mount taught drawing and painting at Winchester School of Art for several years. He later secured a job in Lagos, Nigeria, where he lived for seven years and set up an art department at the YABA Technical Institute.
Mount gained much knowledge on carving and sculpture during his time in West Africa, becoming an increasingly important part of his practice. His early sculpture exhibits a blended influence from the works of Barbara Hepworth, and the tribal sculptures he had been exposed to in Lagos. Ranging from abstract forms to figurative representations, many of his works carry a geometric quality and welcome ‘light play’. Mount stated, that “the way that two shapes relate is as important as the way two people relate".
Significant commissions include the British Steel Corporation in London and “The Spirit of Bristol” for York House in St. James’s Square, Bristol. His work has been shown throughout continental Europe, including Germany, Spain and Switzerland, and the United States, as well as with numerous galleries and sculpture parks across Britain.