Nude Among Flowers Fauve Painting-1969-August Mosca

The painting measures 10 by 9 inches and with the frame 20 by 15 inches.

The swirling floral wood frame is a great compliment to the painting which is framed with a mat but with no glass.The painting is on paper and in excellent condition. The photos tell the story.

This painting will be shipped free via UPS insured.

August Mosca was born in Naples, Italy on August 19, 1905. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911. Mosca studied at Yale University from 1924-26. He then attended Pratt Institute, Grand Central School and the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied with Harry Wickey. Though he was a matriculated student at these schools, Mosca never actually completed any degrees. He lived for a couple of years in Dumont ,N.J. around 1957 to 1959 before moving to New York City and then permanently to Shelter Island. He also traveled to Italy where he studied the works of some of the great Italian Renaissance masters, including Raphael, Leonardo, Signorelli, and Michaelangelo.

In 1937 Mosca met Joseph Stella who introduced him to the silverpoint medium. He was greatly influenced by Stella, who died in 1946. It was Stella who actually encouraged Mosca to paint images of New York City, including the subway & train system as well bridges and New York city. Mosca painted many still lifes,landscapes(often involving Shelter Island) as well as the human figure.He was particularly taken with the female form/nudes having drawn and painted hundreds of these works.His high keyed palette and style were at times highly expressionist and Fauve-like.

As well as being a working painter, Mosca taught art at the Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, Art Students League, and in Tuxedo Park. Mosca's first one-man show was held at the Harry Salpeter Gallery in New York in 1959, where he showed annually until 1969. Later the FAR Gallery handled him exclusively for six years; he was given a one-man exhibition every year. Other one-man exhibitions were held at the Guild Hall in East Hampton, in New Haven, Connecticut, and in Newark, New Jersey at the N.J. landmark Rabin & Krueger Gallery. In 1990 the prestigious Grand Central Gallery in New York held a 50 year retrospective of Mosca's drawings and paintings.

In 1997 the ACA Gallery in New York held a one-man show titled "August Mosca Paints New York." He was included in the "Living Legends" exhibition at the Millennium Gallery in East Hampton. He also exhibited in the Red Barn Atelier and the Elaine Benson Gallery both in Southhampton, as well as the Linda Fishetti Gallery in Southhold. His work was included in the Metropolitan Museum's "Portrait of America" exhibition, and in the Museum of Modern Art.

Among his many awards are a Silver Medal from California Palace of the Legion of Honor. He won First Prize from the Newspaper Guild of New York in 1950 and 1951. He won the Barney Paisner Award from the Society of American Graphic Artists in 1976, the Award of Merit in 1984, the Jane Peterson Award from The Society of Painters and Sculptorsin 1984, he received a lifetime Honorary Membership from the Audubon Artists. Mosca is listed in all of the major dictionaries of American artists.


Mosca's works can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Grey Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Library of Congress, U.S. State Department, New York Public Library, Roy Neuberger Museum, and the Shelter Island Historical Society.

Item ID: moscafauvewoman