Mosler, Henry, 1841-1920

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1841-06-06

Death 1920-04-21

Nationality: Americans

Biographical notes:

Henry Mosler (1841-1920) was a painter.

Henry Mosler spent his early years in Cincinnati, Ohio, studying art under James H. Beard. During the Civil War, he documented the western campaigns for HARPER'S WEEKLY for two years. Immediately afterward, Mosler went to Dusseldorf, and then to Paris, where he entered the studio of Ernest Hebert. In 1874, following a brief return to the United States, he entered the Academy at Munich where he studied under Piloty and won a medal at the Royal Academy. From Munich, Mosler returned to Paris where he became a regular participant in Salon exhibitions.

From the description of Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 744426542

Henry Mosler (1841-1920) was a painter.

From the description of Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79028399

Henry Mosler (1841-1920) worked primarily in Ohio, New York City, and Europe as a painter of portraits and scenes of rural life in Europe. Mosler served as an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly during the Civil War.

Born in Silesia (Poland) in 1841, Henry Mosler immigrated to New York City with his family in 1849. In the early 1850s the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Mosler received art instruction from James Henry Beard, becoming an accomplished portrait painter and an active participant in the Cincinnati art scene.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mosler became an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly, documenting the Western Theater in Kentucky and Tennessee. He served as a volunteer aide-de-camp with the army of Ohio from 1861-1863 and was present at the engagement at Green River, and "present and under fire" at the battles of Shiloh and Perryville.

Immediately thereafter, Mosler relocated to Dusseldorf for two years and attended the Royal Academy, followed by six months in Paris where he studied with painter Ernest Hébert. In 1866 Mosler returned to Cincinnatti where his portraits and genre scenes enjoyed growing popularity.

In 1875 Mosler traveled to Munich and two years later settled in Paris from where he enjoyed critical and financial success both in Europe and in the United States. Mosler was known for his genre paintings of peasant life in rural Brittany and he became a regular participant in Salon exhibitions and won honorable mention in the Salon of 1879, when his painting Le Retour, became the first work by an American artist to be purchased by the French government. In 1888 he won the gold medal at the Paris Salon and in 1892 he was made chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and officier de l'Académie.

Mosler returned to the United States temporarily during this period, including a trip in 1885-1886 to visit the West and collect material for paintings of Native American life.

In 1894 Mosler returned to the United States and settled in New York, where he became a popular teacher and an active participant in the New York art scene. In 1895 he was made an associate member of the National Academy of Design, and in his last decades took up landscape painting during summers in the Catskill mountains, and produced genre paintings depicting scenes from colonial and rural life. Mosler continued to enjoy widespread popularity until his death in 1920.

From the guide to the Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929, (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)