† Mose Tolliver
(American/Alabama, 1925-2006)
"Guitar Case - Alligator/Snake"
painted guitar case
signed at top.
h. 17-1/2", w. 44", d. 6"
Provenance: Private collection, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Born to a family of Alabama sharecroppers on the 4th of July, Tolliver attended school sporadically and only until the third grade. He worked at a local factory and held a variety of odd jobs until a tragic work-related accident crushed his legs. No longer able to work, Tolliver turned to painting as a form of personal expression, and eventually a livelihood. A quintessentially Southern self-taught folk artist, his works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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