Seong Moy (; April 12, 1921 – June 9, 2013) was an American painter and printmaker. Moy was born in a small town outside of

Canton, China Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong ...

; he emigrated to the United States at the age of 10 in 1931, and joined other members of his family who had settled in St. Paul, Minnesota. During this time, Moy attended school during the day, and trained in his uncle's restaurant as an assistant chef when not in school. In 1934, Moy was introduced to art classes at the WPA

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

School through a friend. For the next few years, Moy studied art first at the Federal Art Project, and later at the St. Paul School of Art under Cameron Booth, and the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

Graphic Workshop at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

in Minneapolis, MN. Advisors recognized his talent and permitted him to take more classes while maintaining a job. In 1941 he moved to New York City where he was awarded a scholarship to study at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and the Hoffman School of Art. This lasted until the fall of 1942, when he enlisted with the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, serving in the China-India-Burma Theater as an aerial reconnaissance photographer with the

14th Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

, the "

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

". After the war Moy married and brought his wife Sui Yung to New York. He returned to the Art Students League on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

and re-established his relationship with Cameron Booth, who was now teaching in New York. Moy experimented with printmaking at the

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York during the years surrounding World War II. It moved back ...

and

Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop The EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop is a 4000 square foot printmaking facility in Manhattan. In the 1950s, Moy became a professor, teaching almost forty years at colleges, universities, and institutions: * Cooper Union * Pratt Graphic Arts Center * Columbia University * New York University * Smith College * Vassar College * Provincetown, Massachusetts In 1955 Moy won a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. His woodcuts from this time are notable in their use of subject matter from Chinese classics, combined with the formal techniques of

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

. For example, his woodcut ''Inscription of T'Chao Pae #II'' (1952) explores the potential of archaic Chinese calligraphy, illustrating the artist's aim, in his own words, to "recreate in the abstract idiom of contemporary time some of the ideas of ancient Chinese art forms." He returned to China at the age of 85, in 2008, with his wife, daughters and grandchildren to the rural villages where he and his wife were born in the 1920s. He had a great effect on his family and many who knew him in his life. Moy died in New York on June 9, 2013. He was survived by his wife of sixty six years, Sui Yung, his daughters, Jacqueline and Adrienne, and two grandchildren, Eamon and Fiona. His work can be found in the permanent collections of a number of museums in the United States, including the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It i ...

, the

Vero Beach Museum of Art The Vero Beach Museum of Art is located at 3001 River Park Drive, Vero Beach, Florida. It houses regional, state and national art exhibits and includes a sculpture garden. The Vero Beach Museum of Art is the principal cultural arts facility of i ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, and the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Fellowships

In 1941, Moy attended to the Art Students League in New York by earning a scholarship. He studied painting and printmaking under Vaclav Vytlacil and Will Barnet. He also won another scholarship to the Hans Hofmann School of Art. In 1948, Moy was awarded a fellowship to study printmaking at Stanley William Hayter's legendary Atelier 17 graphic arts studio which is in New York. Although it was the ideal environment for Moy, he needed a studio for printmaking. Moy described Atelier 17 as

“an exchange of points of view, exchange of ideas, what one is trying to do and searching for some newness in technical innovations to fit in with a situation.”

In 1950: Moy received a Whitney Fellowship, the biggest award of his career. Consequently, he was suggested to visit artist position at the University of Minnesota, which is the place that he began to teach. Moy went on to teach at the University of Indiana, Smith, Vassar, and Columbia. In 1955, Moy won a

. His woodcuts from this time are notable in their use of subject matter from Chinese classics, combined with the formal techniques of

Selected works

* ''BLACK SHORE DUNES'' ca. 1955-1965 brush and ink and ink wash on paper * ''EAST GATES'' n.d. etching on paper * ''PORTHOLE'' n.d. etching on paper * ''NUDE #1'' 1967 pen and ink and ink wash on paper * ''FLOATING ISLAND'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''THE BLACK GATES'' n.d. etching on paper * ''THE ROYAL FAMILY'' 1952 color woodcut on paper * ''THE YELLOW CHAMBER'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''INSCRIPTION OF JO PUA'' 1958 color woodcut on paper * ''URGULL #2'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''YEN SHENG'' 1952 color woodcut on paper * ''SAND PIPERS'' ca. 1960 color woodcut on paper * ''CAPE COD LANDSCAPE'' ca. 1955-1965 brush and ink and ink wash on paper * ''THE WANTON ALCHEMIST'' #1 1951 color woodcut on paper * ''KUANG KUNG'' 1952 color woodcut on paper * ''SPRING SONG'' 1955 brush and ink and ink wash on paper * ''CAPE POINT'' n.d. color lithograph on paper * ''BLACK STONE AND RED PEBBLE'' ca. 1970s color woodcut on paper * ''LITTLE ACT ON HORSEBACK'' 1949 color woodcut on paper * ''TIMELESS IMPRINTS'' 1961 color woodcut on paper * ''NASSAU COUNTY #1'' 1961 color woodcut on paper * ''NUDE #2'' 1967 pen and ink and ink wash on paper * ''TWO FIGURES'' 1966 pen and ink and ink wash on paper * ''NASSAU COUNTY'' #2 n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''ROCK GARDEN'' 1962 color woodcut on paper * ''THE COCK FIGHT'' 1955 ink wash on paper * ''NETS'' ca. 1955-1965 ink wash, brush and ink and pastel on paper * ''VIS-A-VIS'' 1962 color woodcut on paper * ''THE COURT OF SILENCES #1'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''THE COURT OF SILENCE'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''WINTER'S PATH'' 1965 color woodcut on paper * ''LILY POND'' 1960 ink wash and pencil on paper * ''COURT OF SILENCE #2'' n.d. color woodcut on paper * ''DANCER IN MOTION'' 1952 color woodcut on paper * ''MOTHER AND CHILD'' 1963 color woodcut on paper * ''NIGHT GLOW'' n.d. color etching on paper

References

External links

The Seong Moy Online Catalog Raisonné

An interview of Seong Moy conducted 1971 Jan. 18-28, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seong, Moy 1921 births 2013 deaths Abstract expressionist artists 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters American printmakers Artists from Guangzhou Artists from New York (state) Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota United States Army Air Forces soldiers American people of Chinese descent Republic of China (1912–1949) emigrants to the United States Atelier 17 alumni American artists of Asian descent Flying Tigers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II 20th-century American male artists

Fellowships

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links