Biografie von Joseph MOZIER (1812-1870/76)
Birth place: Burlington, VT
Death place: Faido, Switzerland
Addresses: Italy, 1845-70
Profession: Sculptor
Exhibited: PAFA, 1852, 1866, 1869-70; NAD, 1847-57; Brooklyn AA, 1864 ("Pocahontas"); NAD, 1852, 1866, 1869; Rome, 1867 (won grand prize for his "Undine")
Work: Arnot Art Mus., Elmira, NY; Dayton (OH) Univ.; NGA; PAFA
Comments: He was a successful merchant in NYC but gave it up in 1845 to become a sculptor. Traveled to Italy, going first to Florence and then to Rome, where he spent most most of his life, except for a few short visits to America. His work was chiefly "ideal" (as in "Undine," 1867, Dayton Univ.), literary ("The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish," 1869, Arnot Art Museum), and biblical, although he also did some genre groups. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote of a visit to Mozier's Rome studio in his Italian Notebooks (1871).
Sources: G&W; DAB; Taft, History of American Sculpture, 109; NYCD 1834-44; Cowdrey, NAD; Sheirr, "Joseph Mozier and His Handiwork"; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Also see Baigell, Dictionary; Craven, Sculpture in America; Rutledge/Falk, PAFA, vol. 1