Thompson, Mozelle W. (African/ American, 1926-1969), 3 Theatrical Costume Studies (Flute Playing Harlequin, African Dancer, Seated Fiddler), 1950's , watercolor and gouache on tinted paper, 12.25 x 9.25 inches, each signed MWT, Mozelle Thompson was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District in 1926, a young Thompson won awards for his artistic abilities as early as second grade. Like Andy Warhol, Thompson was a student of Joseph Fitzpatrick in the Tam O’Shanter Pallete Saturday classes at the Carnegie Institute. Thompson and Warhol attended neighboring high schools, Thompson at Peabody and Warhol at Schenley. Thompson attended the Parson School of Design in 1945, returning to Pittsburgh in the summers where he created window displays at Gimbels department store in downtown Pittsburgh. In 1948, he received a scholarship to study abroad in Rome and Paris. Thompson set sail for Europe that June with a group of 50 students from Parsons. His adventures overseas are documented in a three-page feature in the February 1949 issue of Ebony when he was 22 years old. The Ebony article is an interesting read and insightful on various levels. He speaks briefly on race relations of the 1940s and his aspirations as a young artist. Thompson mostly talks about his interest in fashion design. The article references his commercial work, which had already been published by 1949—floral arrangements in Vogue and fashion drawings in Glamour magazine. Mozelle Thompson’s career and life ended tragically when he fell six stories from his apartment window on December 6, 1969. In addition to illustrating, he taught courses on fashion and window display design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He was working on an illustrated version of the well-known hymn Life Every Voice and Sing at the time of his death. Each framed in cherry wood frames measuring 19 x 16 inches

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