# Mose Tolliver artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/mose-tolliver/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T11:50:48.475Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Common media: Painting, Works on paper and prints, Sculpture and mixed media, Decorative art and editions

## Portrait

![Mose Tolliver](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Mose_Tolliver_%282002%29.jpg)
LoverOfArt at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mose_Tolliver_(2002).jpg

## About Mose Tolliver

Mose Tolliver was an American, African American artist and painter also identified as Moses Ernest Tolliver and Mose T. Library authority records commonly date him to 1920–2006, although Wikidata currently gives 1918 as his birth year, leaving the year unresolved in the collected evidence. His familiar Mose T name is associated with a painted signature reportedly distinguished by a backward s. Public authority records connect Tolliver with Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, ISNI, RKD, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the National Gallery of Art. Collectors encounter his work primarily through paintings, while auction records also place attributed works in categories for works on paper and prints, mixed media, sculpture, decorative art, and editions. The available source pack does not provide sufficiently strong institutional evidence for a precise movement, subject, or series classification, so those labels should remain open pending fuller museum or scholarly documentation.

## Common works and media

The collected auction evidence places Tolliver most clearly in fine art and painting categories. It also includes works on paper and prints, sculpture and mixed media, and decorative art or editions. Because these secondary category groupings are broad, an appraisal should verify the specific support, technique, dimensions, signature, inscriptions, edition status, and condition of the object before selecting comparable sales.

## Market and appraisal context

Mose Tolliver has hundreds of matched public auction records on Appraisily, providing a substantial pool of potential comparisons. A useful comparison should match the object as closely as possible by medium, dimensions, date, condition, surface quality, subject, signature or inscriptions, attribution confidence, provenance, and any edition information. Exhibition history and catalogue references may also affect how a work is assessed. Broad artist-level statistics should not replace examination of individual comparable lots, particularly because the collected market page reports sparse or broad category concentration. Results should also be normalized for buyer's premiums and other fees when possible. Private transactions, incomplete feeds, condition differences, and later attribution changes can limit the relevance of public records.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with matched auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, reported realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Public results are supporting evidence and do not replace object-specific examination, attribution review, provenance research, or condition assessment.

## Sources

- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/55883258/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4274641
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500125726
- National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.45841.html
- Bibliothèque nationale de France: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb16914763j
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/mose-tolliver/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mose_Tolliver
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mose_Tolliver
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mose_Tolliver_(2002).jpg