"Drawing from disparate influences including Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, and African sculpture, Mosley turned out "sculptural improvisations," as he called them, for over seventy years before finally achieving broad acclaim in the last decade of his life."
"Constructing his earliest works from castoff two-by-fours, Mosley soon progressed to carving small figures and from there to using a chisel and gauge to shape larger abstract forms from fallen logs of hickory, cherry, and sycamore discarded by the city's parks department."
"After graduating in 1950, Mosley married his first wife, Ruth Ray, with whom he would have three children before the couple divorced in 1960. Taking a job with the post office to support his growing family, Mosley in the 1950s worked side gigs writing for the Pittsburgh Courier and for the magazines Ebony, Sepia, and Jet, covering jazz and sports."
Thaddeus Mosley, born in 1926 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, became a pioneering abstract sculptor working primarily with reclaimed wood. After serving in World War II and graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in English and journalism, he worked for the post office while writing for publications like the Pittsburgh Courier and Ebony. His artistic journey began in the 1950s after seeing Scandinavian teak birds, inspiring him to create sculptures from discarded materials. Drawing influences from Brancusi, Noguchi, and African sculpture, Mosley developed distinctive abstract forms using fallen logs and other materials. His career spanned over seventy years before gaining significant recognition in his final decade.
Read at Artforum
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]