1920 – 2006, Alabama
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Mose Tolliver leans back and lets out a healthy chuckle. “Ha, you like my nasty pictures. How you like that one up there?” he gestures to a couple of paintings that are but a few covering the walls of his Montgomery bedroom. “Fannie, she hates them pictures” and with that, Mose leans back again and howls in delight.
No one knows for sure what year (not even Mose), but Mose Tolliver was born on the Fourth of July, around 1920. Born on a farm near Montgomery, he worked in the fields, seldom going to school, and dropped out in the third grade. As a young man, Mose tended gardens and painted houses and in the 1940’s, he married Willie Mae Thomas. They had 13 children and were together until she died in 1991.
In the late 1960’s, while working at a furniture factory, Mose had an accident that left him crippled and unable to work. Mose began to paint, capturing images of his favorite things; birds, flowers, and women. In the mid-70’s dealers began to stop by his house regularly, drawn by the sight of paintings drying in the trees of his front yard.
Mose Tolliver is one of the most important of the southern folk artists. His work has been collected at an astonishing rate and continues to be incredibly popular. Quite simple, and playful, his work also contains a wonderful wry sense of humor. His work has been featured in many museums and exhibitions all over the east side of the United States. In 1980 he was honored by the Smithsonian Institute, and met with former President Reagan and the First Lady.
“We went to dinner at the White House and you shoulda’ seen all the food they had on the table,” Mose recalls, girlfriend Fannie at his side. “Turkeys, hams, ribs…more food than you could ever eat. And they was going to throw away all the leftovers! Whole turkeys, I couldn’t believe it. So I asked if I could take some on the train home to Montgomery. They said I could and loaded me up with hams, ribs, turkeys…when we got home, we had feasts for three or four days! That was really something.”