Ross Moffett
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Ross Embrose Moffett (February 2, 1888 – March 13, 1971) was an American artist specializing in
landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
,
social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
themed murals and
etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
. He was a significant figure in the development of American Modernism after World War I. He worked with the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) to complete four murals in the 1930s. For the most part, his paintings depict the life and landscapes of the Provincetown, Massachusetts area.


Biography


Early life

Born on February 2, 1888, in
Clearfield, Iowa Clearfield is a city in Taylor and Ringgold counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 278 at the time of the 2020 census. History Clearfield was platted in 1881 when the Humeston and Shenandoah Railroad was being built through that ...
. Moffett began his studies at the Cummins Art School of Des Moines in 1907. In 1908 he transferred to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (now known as the Art Institute of Chicago) and studied with John Vanderpool and Harry Wallcott. He then studied with
Charles Hawthorne Charles Webster Hawthorne (January 8, 1872 – November 29, 1930) was an American portrait and genre painter and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He was born in Lodi, Illinois, and his parents returned to Main ...
, in
Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
in the summer of 1913. In 1914, he continued his studies at the Art Students League of New York, returning to Provincetown to establish his career as an artist in 1915. As one of the founders of the Provincetown Art Association, he was a leading figure in the town's art scene. Moffett married artist Dorothy Lake Gregory, best known as a printmaker and illustrator of children's books and magazines, in 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. Moffett and Gregory met while studying in Provincetown under Charles Hawthorne.


Career

In 1924, after serving in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
and traveling across Europe, Moffett returned to Provincetown, Massachusetts and became one of the early founders of the
Provincetown Art Association and Museum The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is located at 460 Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is the most attended art museum on Cape Cod. The museum's permanent coll ...
(PAAM). Moffett had his first one-man show at the Frank Rehn Gallery in New York and also at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1928. Between 1932 and 1933, he taught at the University of Miami in Ohio and, in 1942, Moffett became a full member of the National Academy of Design. Moffett painted four murals in two Massachusetts post offices for the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1936 and 1938. Although he deepened his commitment to the Provincetown Art Association, his output lessened during World War 2. Moffett became interested in archaeology in the 1950s, delivered a few lectures on the subject, and wrote an article for ''American Antiquity'' entitled "A Shell Heap Site on Griffin Island, Wellfleet, Massachusetts" which appeared in Volume 28 No 1. In 1954, he was chosen, along with another artist, to paint murals of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's civilian life for the new Eisenhower Memorial Foundation Museum by the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
. In 1960, Moffett joined the movement to establish acreage known as the Province Lands as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore Park. He wrote and published a definitive history of the first thirty-three years of the Provincetown Art Association in a book titled ''Art in Narrow Streets'' in 1964. He continued serving as a juror for the Provincetown Art Association and, in 1970, was artist-in-residence for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.


Later life

Moffett died of cancer on March 13, 1971, in
Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
and is buried at the Provincetown cemetery next to his wife, Dorothy who died in 1975. The Moffett House, 296A Commercial Street, Provincetown, Massachusetts was built in 1860. It is the former location of the home and studio of Ross Moffett and his wife Dorothy. It has since been restored and is now called the Moffett House Inn.


Work


Awards

* 1927 - French Gold Medal at the Art Institute of Chicago


Murals

* 1936 - ''"Captain Alezue Holyoke's Exploring Party on the Connecticut River" ''(oil on canvas) at the U.S. Post Office, in Holyoke, Massachusetts * 1937 - "''A Skirmish between British and Colonists near Somerville in Revolutionary Times''" at the U. S. Post Office, Somerville Main Branch * 1939 - "''The First Store and Tavern''" at the U.S. Post Office, in
Revere, Massachusetts Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately from downtown Boston. Founded as North Chelsea in 1846, it was renamed in 1871 after the American Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere. In 1914, the Tow ...
* 1954 - President
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
's life (multiple murals painted with artist, Louis George Bouché), in Abilene, Kansas


See also

*
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 ...
(FAP)


References


External links


Ross Moffett Collection
at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Ross Moffett papers
at Syracuse University {{DEFAULTSORT:Moffett, Ross 1888 births 1971 deaths People of the New Deal arts projects Artists from Iowa School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Artists from Massachusetts Painters from Massachusetts 20th-century American painters American male painters American muralists Social realist artists 20th-century American male artists