Marlow Moss
Encyclopedia
Marjorie Jewel "Marlow" Moss (29 May 1889 – 23 August 1958) was a British Constructivist
artist who worked in painting
and sculpture
.
and clothier, and his wife Frannie Jacobs. Against the wishes of her family, she chose to pursue an artistic career, studying at the St John's Wood School of Art in 1916–17, then the Slade School of Fine Art
. She left the latter in 1919, probably due to a mental breakdown, to live alone in Cornwall
.
In 1923, inspired by a biography of Marie Curie
, she was able to return to London
to study in the British Museum Reading Room
, then studied sculpture
at the Penzance School of Art, before taking up painting and setting up a London studio in 1926. At this point in her life she permanently adopted a masculine appearance (short hair, cravat
and jodhpurs
) and changed her forename to Marlow.
In 1927 she visited, and later moved to, Paris
where she met her lifelong partner, the Dutch
writer A. H. Nijhoff (Antoinette Hendrika Nijhoff-Wind, wife of the poet Martinus Nijhoff
). She was a pupil of Léger
and Ozenfant
at the Académie Moderne, but her style was particularly influenced by Piet Mondrian
. She was also acquainted with Georges Vantongerloo
and Jean Gorin. In Paris she was a founder member of the Abstraction-Création
association, and exhibited with the Salon des Surindépendants.
At the beginning of World War II
she left France to live near Lamorna Cove
in Cornwall, studying architecture
at the Penzance School of Art. For the rest of her life she lived and worked in Cornwall, frequently visiting Paris. She joined the London branch of Group Espace and had solo exhibitions at the Hanover Gallery in 1953 and 1958.
She died of cancer at Penzance
in 1958, and her ashes were scattered on the sea near Lamorna
.
, sculpture
and relief
s. Prior to World War II
her main medium was paint, in which she produced highly abstract
compositions simple black lines and grids akin to the Neo-Plasticism
of Mondrian
, whose work she highly admired (some sources suggest that Mondrian may have been influenced by her work, rather than vice versa). Later in the 1930s she moved to all-white relief
s of wood, rope, and string. Most of this pre-war work was destroyed, along with her French studio, by German bombing in 1944.
Post-war, her architectural studies led her to develop sculptural and relief works such as the 1956-7 Balanced Forms in Gun Metal on Cornish Granite, while she continued to paint, developing a style structurally similar but more colourful than early works.
Despite the innovative nature of her work, her early base in Paris and later reclusive lifestyle led to a low-key reputation as a British artist, and until the 1980s she was viewed as a minor Mondrian imitator. Her works are now held at the Tate
and the Henry Moore Institute
.
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
artist who worked in painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Life
Born in Kilburn, she was the daughter of Lionel Moss, a master hosierHosiery
Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as hose...
and clothier, and his wife Frannie Jacobs. Against the wishes of her family, she chose to pursue an artistic career, studying at the St John's Wood School of Art in 1916–17, then the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
. She left the latter in 1919, probably due to a mental breakdown, to live alone in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
In 1923, inspired by a biography of Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
, she was able to return to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to study in the British Museum Reading Room
British Museum Reading Room
The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. In 1997, this function moved to the new British Library building at St Pancras, London, but the Reading Room remains in its original form inside...
, then studied sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
at the Penzance School of Art, before taking up painting and setting up a London studio in 1926. At this point in her life she permanently adopted a masculine appearance (short hair, cravat
Cravat
The cravat is a neckband, the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie, originating from 17th-century Croatia.From the end of the 16th century, the term band applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a ruff...
and jodhpurs
Jodhpurs
Jodhpurs in their modern form are tight-fitting trousers that reach to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horse riding. The term is also used incorrectly as slang for a type of short riding boot, also called a paddock boot or a jodhpur boot, because they are worn...
) and changed her forename to Marlow.
In 1927 she visited, and later moved to, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where she met her lifelong partner, the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
writer A. H. Nijhoff (Antoinette Hendrika Nijhoff-Wind, wife of the poet Martinus Nijhoff
Martinus Nijhoff
Martinus Nijhoff was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in Amsterdam and law in Utrecht. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume De wandelaar...
). She was a pupil of Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
and Ozenfant
Amédée Ozenfant
Amédée Ozenfant was a French cubist painter.He was born into a bourgeois family in Saint-Quentin, Aisne and was educated at Dominican colleges in Saint-Sébastien...
at the Académie Moderne, but her style was particularly influenced by Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
. She was also acquainted with Georges Vantongerloo
Georges Vantongerloo
Georges Vantongerloo was a Belgian abstract sculptor and painter and founding member of the De Stijl group.-Life:...
and Jean Gorin. In Paris she was a founder member of the Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création was a loose association of artists formed in Paris in 1931 to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton....
association, and exhibited with the Salon des Surindépendants.
At the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
she left France to live near Lamorna Cove
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
in Cornwall, studying architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at the Penzance School of Art. For the rest of her life she lived and worked in Cornwall, frequently visiting Paris. She joined the London branch of Group Espace and had solo exhibitions at the Hanover Gallery in 1953 and 1958.
She died of cancer at Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
in 1958, and her ashes were scattered on the sea near Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
.
Works
Her oeuvre spanned paintingPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
s. Prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
her main medium was paint, in which she produced highly abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
compositions simple black lines and grids akin to the Neo-Plasticism
De Stijl
De Stijl , propagating the group's theories. Next to van Doesburg, the group's principal members were the painters Piet Mondrian , Vilmos Huszár , and Bart van der Leck , and the architects Gerrit Rietveld , Robert van 't Hoff , and J.J.P. Oud...
of Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, whose work she highly admired (some sources suggest that Mondrian may have been influenced by her work, rather than vice versa). Later in the 1930s she moved to all-white relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
s of wood, rope, and string. Most of this pre-war work was destroyed, along with her French studio, by German bombing in 1944.
Post-war, her architectural studies led her to develop sculptural and relief works such as the 1956-7 Balanced Forms in Gun Metal on Cornish Granite, while she continued to paint, developing a style structurally similar but more colourful than early works.
Despite the innovative nature of her work, her early base in Paris and later reclusive lifestyle led to a low-key reputation as a British artist, and until the 1980s she was viewed as a minor Mondrian imitator. Her works are now held at the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
and the Henry Moore Institute
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977...
.
External links
- Marlow Moss, Tate Collection
- Spatial Construction in Steel (1956-7), Henry Moore Institute
- Biography and works, Snapdragon portal personal site