Thaddeus Mosley
Tatum Scales
2019
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Thaddeus Mosley
Tatum Scales
2019
Physical Qualities
Walnut, 92 × 37 × 24 in. (233.7 × 94 × 61 cm.)
12 × 12 × 18 in. (30.5 × 30.5 × 45.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Art Fund established with exchange funds from gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Berman, Equitable Bank, N.A., Geoffrey Gates, Sandra O. Moose, National Endowment for the Arts, Lawrence Rubin, Philip M. Stern, and Alan J. Zakon
Object Number
2022.10
Tatum Scales fuses various global art histories and influences from across the African and Black Diaspora. Named for the American jazz pianist and composer Art Tatum (1909–1956), Mosley’s work draws inspiration from the virtuosity and improvisation of jazz, a genre rooted in Black American musical traditions. The tree-like forms similarly draw on the aesthetic of jagged Dogon ladders of Mali in Africa. Though made of a dense walnut, the sculpture seems weightless, conjuring an organic quality reminiscent of the Pennsylvania forests of the artist’s home state.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, "Thaddeus Mosley: Forest", 17 October 2021- 27 March 2022; circulated to Art + Practice, Los Angeles, California, 17 September 2022- 21 January 2023; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, 11 Feburary 2023- 7 May 2023.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," Gallery 05, February 26 - June 2025.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," Gallery 05, February 26 - June 2025.
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