Arthur Moss

Arts.◦About Arthur Moss
◦Arthur's Works
◦References
The History of Arthur Moss
Arthur Harold Moss was born in 1889 in New Yorks Greenwich Village. His parents were immigrants: father German-Jewish and mother Turkish. While his parents became more Westernized, Arthur grew up identifying more with their European roots. After serving in WW1 Arthur attended Cornell University, but, he dropped out in order to follow his aspirations of being a writer. Arthur worked as a reporter in New York for awhile, eventually moving back to Greenwich Village in order to edit Quill in 1917. Quill was a literary journal magazine in which Arthur also wrote articles, deeply commited to expanding his audience to an international level.

Arthur had a passion not only for writing, but, also for promoting what he considered to be work by artists that should be acknowledged. Arthur regarded men and women as equals in a day when that wasn't too popular. He promoted, or criticized, fairly and honestly, the works of anyone who had something to contribute to the artistic world. Whether it was the theater, books, artwork of all kinds, it was shared with as large of an audience with which Arthur could connect. Because of his fair treatment of everyone, Arthur was highly regarded by the early feminists whom he also supported.

In 1920, Arthur hired Florence Gilliam to edit Quill. His relationship with Florence would become more involved and soon they would find they shared the same passion for reaching a broader audience for thier effort. In 1921 the pair moved to Paris, into a small apartment near Shakespear & Co., a well known hang-out for many ex-pat artists in the day. Arthur would become friends with many aspiring artists who are now regarded as some of the greatest.

Eventually, Arthur and Florence began publishing Gargoyle, an intence magazine designed to reach an artistic international community. Gargoyle published art reproductions representing the works of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Andre Derain, Amadeo Modigliani, Paul Cezanne, Max Weber and others. Writers contributing to the publication included Robert Coates, Malcolm Cowley, Hart Crane, Stephen Vincent Benet, and Sinclair Lewis, just to name a few. Arthur was able to give an opportunity to some artists to reach a broad audience with their work.

One aspiring writer was a young man, fresh out of the military, a war hero, by the name of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway loved books and frequented Shakespear & Co. where he met Arthur, who convinced him to submit articles for the publication. Over the years Hemingway would contribute many such articles and anicdotes to Arthur's magazines.

While the Gargoyle was considered to be a high quality publication, Arthur and Florence were not very good at selling and it never reached enough subscribers to keep it afloat. Less than two years of operation, Gargoyle ceased publcation. For the next few years Arthur would write a collumn for the New York Times and the Paris Herald. An editor at the Paris Herald, Al Laney, described Arthur as 'perhaps the first Boswell of the postwar Quarter'. Arthur was known as 'an energetic little man who knew what everybody was doing at all times'.

During this time, Arthur co-authored his first book with artist Hiler Harzberg, Slapstick and Dumbbell: A Casual Survey of Clowns and Clowning, Lawren Pub.(New York),1924. Harzberg was another American ex-pat painter who contributed illustrations. Harzberg was a key contributor to the Parisian art scene and also owned The Jockey Club. It was a pub where artists could hang out in a safe atmosphere. Arthur would work there part time to keep up with what everybody was 'up to'.

In 1926, Arthur wrote the introduction to his friend Robert Coates' novel, The Eater of Darkness. In 1927 Arthur began publishing Boulevardier. Patterned after The New Yorker, the magazine was cheerful and easy to read, unlike the more intence Gargoyle. Arthur's own column in the magazine, Books and the Left Bank, kept everyone up to date on literary news. Others who contributed stories to the mag included such notable writers as Michael Arlen, Noel Coward, Louis Bromfield, Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway.

Boulevardier was fairly successful with Arthur's immaculate taste in literature and excellent contacts. Aside from three books of poetry, most of Arthur's works were non-fiction. He devoted his entire life to promoting all the arts in which he held such a passion. He and his friends also kept alive the spirit of the Latin Quarter where so many artists from all over the world went to flourish and be inspired. Arthur was known to be very maticulous and a very thorough researcher.

Arthur and friend Evalyn Marvel sailed to New York City (according to boarding records) in 1947 to have published The Legend of the Latin Quarter: Henry Murger and the Birth of Bohemia (Beechhurst Press/1947). The pair would co-author a second biography and travel to New York once again in 1954 to publish Cancan and Barcarolle: The Life and Times of Jacques Offenbach (Exposition Press).

Arthur would spend the final years of his life doing what he loved - writing and painting. He never had much regard for his own talent, rather he was devoted to promoting the talent of others. Feb. 20, 1969, at the age of 80, Arthur Moss died in the American Hospital in Neuily, a suburb of Paris. He was survived by his widow Doreen.