(1920 - 2006 )
Mose Tolliver was born in Alabama. He had eleven children of his own and supported his family with odd jobs. In the early 1970s while working for a furniture company a crate of marble crushed his legs. During his recovery his employer took him to an art show and he decided to start painting. He would sit in his front yard and paint the children and offer them to passersby for a few dollars.In 1982 his work was included in a the "Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980" show at the Smithsonian's Corcoran Gallery. Suddenly he was recognized as one of the most significant folk painters in America. Mose Tolliver continued to paint until 2005.
Mose painted in muted colors and a wide variety of subjects, including self portraits , a variety of birds and other animals, watermelons, and his famous "erotic" paintings. He would frequently do several versions of the same image, altering the colors of each one.
Ref: Rosenak, "Contemporary American Folk Art - A Collector's Guide"; Sellen, "Self Taught, Outsider and Folk Art"
