Creator Record
Metadata
Name |
Mose Tolliver |
Other names |
Mose T. Moses Ernest Tolliver |
Dates & places of birth and death |
4 July, 1918-1921 -- Pike Road, Alabama 30 October, 2006 -- Montgomery, Alabama |
Nationality |
American |
Occupation |
Mose Tolliver is remembered for creating with "House Paint" on plywood. He painted from the 1960s through the early 2000s. Excerpts of Mose Tolliver's biography from "Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers": "Mose Tolliver was born to a family of tenant farmers living southeast of Montgomery, Alabama. He remembered his first home as a simple shack, lined with pictures." His family migrated to Montgomery in the 1930s. "Tolliver found work as a general odd-job man and a landscape gardener...Tolliver had been drawn to painting since his teenage years. He made use of materials he found around him, painting on bones, roots, the glass of discarded television screens, and postcards." Tolliver retired due to injury in the late 1960s "after a crate of marble in the furniture factory he worked in fell on him, crushing his legs and leaving him unable to stand without crutches." "His former employer encouraged him to take up painting again, which he began to do using house paint and plywood. After first copying from books and items around him, Tolliver developed a rich iconography of subjects, including religious scenes and fantastical animals and people. Tolliver worked prolifically, completing up to ten works a day; he explained that he 'paint[ed] to keep his head together'." "In 1981, Tolliver was given a solo show at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and took part in the landmark 1982 exhibition 'Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980' at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. These shows raised Tolliver's profile and attracted the attention of collectors. Today, Tolliver's paintings are found in many American galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco." This biography was written by Rebecca Bray for "Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South." |
Notes |
Mose Tolliver signature is signed "Mose T" with the 's' turned backward. His artistic endeavors started after he was injured in an industrial accident (a pallet of marble crushed his legs) in his 40's. |
Publications |
Exhibitions: -- Smithsonian American Art Museum -- Philadelphia College of Art -- Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts -- Corcoran Gallery of Art -- Centre Pompidou, Paris -- National Gallery of Art Mose Tolliver is a featured artist in the publication "Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South," published by the Royal Academy of Arts. |
Relationships |
Willie Mae Thomas -- Wife |
Role |
Artist |
Education |
self taught |
Related Records
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2021.005.018 - Painting
This work is painted with house-paint on board and is inlaid on a white painted wood frame. "Figure" depicts a whimsically rendered abstract figure comprised of simple geometric shapes. The figure is given a white background with a green border. It is composed of flat planes of color, and is positioned in a full frontal and centered manner. Tolliver, as with many of his works, created this piece using a muted color palette. There are punches of r...
Record Type: Object
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2023.009 - Painting
This is a painting of a blue owl by Mose Tolliver. The owl has simplistic facial features and is perched upon a brown branch. The background is a pale yellow with interspersed spots in varied shades of blue that match the owl. These spots were likely finger-painted and are a common motif in Tolliver's works. The border of the painting is square and brown. Tolliver's signature is painted in red in the bottom left corner. The wooden board is not en...
Record Type: Object
