August
Mosca
1905-2003
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 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.
Mosca also painted many still lifes as well as the human figure.
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.
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.
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