Marlow Moss
(1890 - 1958) |
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Simple geometric shapes placed haphazardly on the canvas, much like the work of Mondrian Art Work
| Name: |
Marlow Moss |
| Gender: |
Female |
| Place of Birth: |
Kilburn, London, England |
| Nationality: |
British |
| Birth: |
1890 |
| Death: |
1958 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Simple geometric shapes placed haphazardly on the canvas, much like the work of Mondrian |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
Constructivism |
| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
Sculptor
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Biography
Marjorie Jewell trained at the St John's Wood School of Art and then at the Slade, before moving to Paris in 1927. Her new environment suited her new identity. It was the era of La Garonne, the shorthaired 'bachelor' girl, subject of Victor Marguerite's bestselling novel of 1922. Paris also nurtured Moss's abstract painting in which she explored space and form with a palette of red, blue, yellow, black, white and grey. Moss entered the Academie Moderne, where she was taught by Fernand Leger and Arnadee Ozenfant.
There has been some debate about the close relationship between Moss's work and that of Piet Mondrian, whom she met in 1929. Both developed compositions using double lines to divide space. But Moss's interest in precise calculation and structure (carried out with compass and ruler) pre-dated her knowledge of Mondrian's methods. She had studied mathematics and architecture intensively at the British Library. There are also similarities between her work and that of Vezelay (their correspondence is in the Tate Archive). Both women used curved lines made out of cord or, in Moss's case, rope. Moss was a founder member of Abstraction-Creation in 1931, which Vezelay later joined. In turn Moss joined the British branch of an organization coordinated by Vezelay, the Groupe Espace.
Moss's reputation as a pioneer of abstraction may have been harmed by the loss of much of her pre-war work when her French home was bombed in 1944. Settling in Cornwall, she became part of the community of artists including Barbara Hepworth and Ithell Colquhoun. |
Samples of Work
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