Thaddeus Mosley
Tatum Scales
2020
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Thaddeus Mosley
Tatum Scales
2020
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 by purchase, 2022; Karma, New York
Jessica Bell Brown, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Thaddeus Mosley: Forest," October 17, 2021 to March 27, 2022. Circulated to Art + Practice, September 17, 2022 to January 21, 2023; Nasher Sculpture Center, February 11, 2023 to May 7, 2023.
Jessica Bell Brown, Cecilia Wichmann, and Leila Grothe, with Antoinette Roberts, Oscar Flores-Montero, Dylan Kaleikaumaka Hill, and Maura Callahan, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2026; work on view from February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2026.
Jessica Bell Brown, Cecilia Wichmann, and Leila Grothe, with Antoinette Roberts, Oscar Flores-Montero, Dylan Kaleikaumaka Hill, and Maura Callahan, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2026; work on view from February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2026.
On View: Contemporary Wing Second Floor, Gallery 05
