Self Portrait in Person
Date1985-1990
Artist
Mose Earnest Tolliver (1924-2006)
MediumAcrylic on wood
DimensionsUnframed: 31 13/16" x 23 7/8"
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. T. Marshall Hahn, Jr.
Object number1996.100.2
DescriptionA stylized figure of a man having essentailly no body, his legs extending downward from his shoulders. A cane extends from each hand to the ground. He stands beside a small tree, the figure executed in greens and blues and set against a white ground dotted with blue and green daubs of paint.The painting has never been framed.
Label TextMose Tolliver helped define the twentieth century phenomenon popularly known as "Outsider Art." After an accident at a furniture business in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s left him crippled, he devoted himself to making pictures, applying house paint to scraps of plywood, poster board, and other found materials in a distinctive, personal style that appealed greatly to contemporary collectors. In this self portrait, Tolliver documented the fact that, after his injury, he could not stand or walk unaided.
InscribedJust above the lower edge in the left half in black paint is "MOSE t".
On the back of the primary support in black magic marker is "Self Portrait in Person".
ProvenanceFrom the artist to Bill Arnett; to D/M T. Marshall Hahn, Jr., in October 1994; given by the latter to AARFAM in 1996.
1837-1844
1660-1680
1829
