Thaddeus Mosley

Thaddeus Gilmore Mosley (July 23, 1926 – March 6, 2026) was an American sculptor who worked mostly in wood and was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Life and career Thaddeus Gilmore Mosley was born on July 23, 1926, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, the second youngest of five children and the only boy. Both sides of his family were farmers and miners. After high school graduation, he "entered as support company in California supplying Liberty ships" for the U.S. Navy. While in college, he worked for photographer Isadore Frichman and the Pittsburgh Photo Guild, developing negatives in the darkroom a few hours each week.

Mosley became interested in pursuing sculpture through his frequent visits to the Carnegie Museum of Art and through his own art historical research at public libraries. The display included wood carvings of birds and fish. Rather than paying $75 apiece for the animals, Mosley decided to make his own.

In 1964, he remarried to Yvonne Reed, by whom he would later have three children.

Exhibitions and awards Major exhibitions include the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA)'s Artist of the Year show in 1979, the Three Rivers Arts Festival with Selma Burke in 1990, and the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in 1995. He also is 1 of 32 artists to be featured in the 2018 Carnegie International.

Mosley's awards include the 1999 Governor's Award for Artist of the Year in Pennsylvania Visual Arts, the PCA 2000 Cultural Award, and the PCA 2002 Service to the Arts Award and Exhibition. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review called Mosley "a fixture at local art openings" and said:

A constant contributor to charity auctions (he recently donated two pieces to the Sharry Evrett Scholarship Award auction and created a penguin for Sweetwater Center for the Arts' Penguins on Parade auction), he also is widely respected as an instructor, having given countless workshops on woodcarving at colleges and art centers locally and regionally. Most notable has been the Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, Fayette County, where he has taught wood sculpture every summer for more than 20 years.

A 45-minute documentary on Mosley's life, Thaddeus Mosley: Sculptor, was completed in 2012. Curated by Annabelle Ténèze, Director of Les Abattoirs, Thaddeus Mosley in La Suite de l’Histoire was exhibited at Musée National Eugène-Delacroix.

In 2023, Mosley had several solo exhibitions including Thaddeus Mosley: Recent Sculpture at Karma Los Angeles and Thaddeus Mosley: Forest at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Forest was organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art where it was exhibited between October 17, 2021, and March 27, 2022, and curated by Jessica Bell Brown. The exhibition included five recent sculptures, carved from discarded walnut trees the artist gathered in Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The influence of jazz music can be seen in his improvisational carving techniques and the titles of sculptures, such as Tatum Scales. Made in 2020, the title and ridged elements "likely refers to Art Tatum, whose rapid-fire prowess on the piano was characterized by virtuoso traversals up and down the keyboard." Other artistic influences include Isamu Noguchi, whom Mosley considers one of the "greatest American sculptors" and African art, with particular interest in the diversity of Western and Central African art traditions.