August Mosca
1905-2003

August Mosca was born in Naples, Italy on August 19, 1905. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911. Mosca studied at Yale University from 1924-26. He then attended Pratt Institute, Grand Central School and the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied with Harry Wickey. Though he was a matriculated student at these schools, Mosca never actually completed any degrees. He also traveled to Italy where he studied the works of some of the great Italian Renaissance masters, including Raphael, Leonardo, Signorelli, and Michaelangelo.

In 1937 Mosca met Joseph Stella who introduced him to the silverpoint medium. He was greatly influenced by Stella, who died in 1946. It was Stella who actually encouraged Mosca to paint images of New York City. Mosca also painted many still lifes as well as the human figure.

As well as being a working painter, Mosca taught art at the Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, Art Students League, and in Tuxedo Park. Mosca’s first one-man show was held at the Harry Salpeter Gallery in New York in 1959, where he showed annually until 1969. Later the FAR Gallery handled him exclusively for six years; he was given a one-man exhibition every year. Other one-man exhibitions were held at the Guild Hall in East Hampton, in New Haven, Connecticut, and in Newark, New Jersey. In 1990 the prestigious Grand Central Gallery in New York held a 50 year retrospective of Mosca’s drawings and paintings. In 1997 the ACA Gallery in New York held a one-man show titled “August Mosca Paints New York.” He was included in the “Living Legends” exhibition at the Millennium Gallery in East Hampton. He also exhibited in the Red Barn Atelier and the Elaine Benson Gallery both in Southhampton, as well as the Linda Fishetti Gallery in Southhold. His work was included in the Metropolitan Museum’s “Portrait of America” exhibition, and in the Museum of Modern Art.

Among his many awards are a Silver Medal from California Palace of the Legion of Honor. He won First Prize from the Newspaper Guild of New York in 1950 and 1951. He won the Barney Paisner Award from the Society of American Graphic Artists in 1976, the Award of Merit in 1984, the Jane Peterson Award from The Society of Painters and Sculptorsin 1984, he received a lifetime Honorary Membership from the Audubon Artists. Mosca is listed in all of the major dictionaries of American artists.

Mosca’s works can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Grey Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Library of Congress, U.S. State Department, New York Public Library, Roy Neuberger Museum, and the Shelter Island Historical Society.