American folk art

Mose Tolliver is one of the most popular figure of the Black American Folk Art. Height of a dozen children, he has eleven children of his own and works hard to support his family until a terrible accident: a crate of marble crush his legs while he is working in a furniture factory in 1969.

Motivated by his last boss, he picks up a paintbrush to pass the time. Mose is dyslexic, which may have encouraged his artistic efforts by limiting his reading and writing abilities. He often turns his paintings upside-down and paints the picture positioned from various directions. He is used to hang paintings in his yard and offering them to passers-by for a few dollars each until he participates to the famous exhibition « Black American Folk Art 1930-1980 » at Washington, D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery in 1982.

Suddenly he is considered as one of the most significant folk painters in America, and collectors from far and wide are seeking out his work. Mose paints sit on the edge of his bed, using house paint on plywood : his favourite themes are flowers, animals, himself, his family and some erotic subjects.

Tolliver's work has been exhibited at the Philadelphia College of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, and the Cocoran Gallery of Art. In 1993, a retrospective of his work was held at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City.

He died on October 31st, 2006 from pneumonia.