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Lithography: technical virtuosity and originality

Mozley’s passion for lithography was exemplified by the series of exhibitions that he participated in at the AIA Gallery in 1948 with his brother-in-law, Edwin LaDell, Lynton Lamb and Lawrence Scarfe; the Redfern Gallery, also in 1948, with Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, and the following year, at The Paul Alexander Gallery with Robert Colquhoun, Robert McBride, Michael Rothenstein, Lawrence Scarfe and Edwin LaDell. The last was curated by Peter Floud, who wrote in the brochure for the exhibition and, the following year, in the authoritative art book “The Studio”, of the influence of French lithographers Vuillard and Bonnard on Mozley’s work and his skill in producing his lithographic work using the humble washing mangle. “His best lithographs are brilliantly successful and display a technical virtuosity and originality not equalled by any of his British contemporaries.”

 

During the late 1940s, Mozley’s friendship with Jack Beddington and Vernon Nye, whom he had worked for at Shell before the war, led to a new series of commissions from the corporate world. They had both joined the advertising agency, Coleman, Prentice & Varley. Beddington and Nye were nearing retirement and Mozley’s close connection with this world lasted less than a decade. It preceded the major changes in printing techniques, photography and the advent of corporate marketing and PR departments in the mid-fifties.

 

But during that time Mozley worked on posters for a number of major corporate names such as BEA, B.O.A.C, Guinness, Goya Perfumes, Shell and Truman Beers. He did so only when he was allowed complete freedom in design. From an artistic point of view, it allowed him to develop methods, themes and ways to create images that could be compelling and communicate through his drawing and painting skills, while achieving the necessary impact. 

It was inevitable that these diversions would not last long, but this relationship with the corporate world, however, did provide a string of new friendships and, more significantly, a flow of painting and portrait commissions. It would also be a route to enhance his income, much needed given his decision to send his five children to private schools and live in the most prestigious parts of Kensington! In retrospect, his preference to promote and sell through the private and corporate sectors rather than through the structured academic and institutional worlds could be regarded as a mistake, but it was suited to his individualism and character.

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