Thaddeus Mosley, an internationally known sculptor who worked from a studio in Pittsburgh’s North Side, died Friday at the age of 99.
An influential figure within Pittsburgh’s arts world, Mosley worked most often with salvaged wood to create monumental structures. He built a body of work over decades, while working a day job as a mail sorter for the U.S. Postal Service and raising a family.
The family announced his death Saturday morning through his son Khari Mosley, a member of Pittsburgh City Council.
“He was a dedicated family man, ubiquitous community pillar, and an inimitable creative force who embodied the hardworking ethos of his blue-collar Western Pennsylvanian roots and the innovative essence of the classic jazz music that served as his spiritual inspiration,” said Khari Mosley. “We are truly grateful for the enormous outpouring of love and support shown to our family during this unspeakably difficult time.”
Born in 1926 in New Castle, the son of a coal miner, Mosley joined the U.S. Navy after high school and went on to graduate from University of Pittsburgh in 1950 with degrees in English and journalism.
As he worked as a writer and photographer, he developed an interest in wood carving and the visual arts. Self-taught, he worked alongside other Pittsburgh artists while gaining inspiration from African and tribal art as well as contemporary sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi. By 1968, his work was the subject of a one-man show at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Fifty years later, he was prominently featured in the 57th Carnegie International, the global survey of contemporary art.
The announcement by his family highlighted his career: Touching the Earth, his Public Art Fund-curated exhibition at New York’s City Hall Park (2025); Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder at the Seattle Art Museum (2024); his solo exhibitions Forest at Baltimore Museum of Art (2021) and La Suite de l’Histoire at Paris’ Musée National Eugène Delacroix; group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (2023) and Bergen Kunsthall in Norway (2022).
Museums that have collected his work include: the Art Institute of Chicago; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta; and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.
Next month, Touching the Earth will be the inaugural installation at Arts Landing, the outdoor civic space and park in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.
Mosley was part of the advisory council at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, which remembers him today:
In addition to his son Khari, Mosley is survived by his five other children — Martel Mosley, Rochelle Sisco, Lorna Mosley, Tereneh Idia, Anire Mosley — eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his longtime companion, Teruyo Seya.
A public celebration of Mosley’s life will be announced in the coming days.