Mose Tolliver

Bio

Moses Ernest Tolliver (July 4, 1918-20 – October 30, 2006) was an artist based in Montgomery, Alabama. He was known as "Mose T", after the signature on his paintings, signed with a backwards "s". He regularly worked with "pure house paint" on plywood, creating whimsical and sometimes erotic pictures of animals, humans, and flora. His familiar themes also included watermelons and birds. Tolliver's painting style is referred to as flat, full frontal or straight profile with a muted palette. Never able to walk well following his injury, he painted many self portraits with crutches or would sit on his bed and balance whatever surface he was painting on, on his knees. Tolliver's themes were drawn from his own experience.