Born in 1914 in the industrial city of Sheffield, Charles Alfred Mozley showed an aptitude at an early age for the artistic skills of drawing and painting and was awarded a scholarship to the London and Dominions School of Drawing at the age of eleven. He was unable to take up this opportunity due to family circumstances (his mother was suffering from multiple sclerosis. However, he continued to develop his skills and passion for artistic expression, persuading his father to take him to London in 1930 to explore the Exhibition of Italian Art 1200 – 1900 at the Royal Academy, until he was finally able to enter the College of Arts & Crafts in Sheffield under James Anthony Betts. On completion of his studies at the College he was rewarded with a solo exhibition at Hibbert Brothers Art Gallery in the city and a year’s teaching contract at the School before taking up his scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1933.
On graduating from the painting department of the RCA in 1936, Mozley rapidly gained commissions from the two leading commercial patrons of the arts, Frank Pick at London Transport and Jack Beddington at Shell. This supplemented the scarce private commissions (Britain was still struggling to free itself from the ravages of the Depression) and wages from teaching anatomy and lithography at the Camberwell College of Art and the South London Working Man’s College. In 1938 he married Eileen Kohn, a fellow student at the RCA and moved to Harcourt Terrace in Chelsea. His close friends in these pre-war years were fellow artists Edwin LaDell (his brother-in-law), John Plant (both of whom had followed him down to the RCA from the Sheffield School of Art), and Laurence Scarfe. Together with one of his tutors, Barnett Freedman and his first patron Jack Beddington. All of these, would be life-long friends.
The coming of war interrupted the expected corse of progress in his career. At twenty-five year’s old he joined up with the Royal Engineers and was transferred to the Camouflage Unit in Leamington Spa to join many of his fellow artists. His first commanding officers were Frederick Beddington (brother of Jack and post-war director of Wildenstein Gallery) and the fashion designer Victor Steibel. He would travel with colleague Edward Seago on painting visits and with whom he remained friends for many years. Undoubtedly unimpressed with the organisation and practical skills within the Unit Mozley soon approached the War Artists Advisory Committee to seek more opportunities to use his abilities. They acquired a watercolour in 1940 and he presented a portfolio to them the following year. Having no major exhibitions since graduation, the committee did not grant him the possibility of working as a war artist with the accompanying stipend but his skills and eagerness to make a contribution was rewarded with a transfer to Military Intelligence where he progressed to the rank of acting Lieutenant Colonel. He adapted well to the highly secretive world and used his skills of observation and the effects of light and colour in concealing the build-up of troops and equipment during the preparations of Operation Overlord. Meanwhile, Eileen also worked in espionage in the Ministry of Economic Warfare until their first child (of five) was born in 1942. The last picture acquired by WAAC was in 1944, “D -2”, displayed at the Royal Academy in the War Artists’ Exhibition in 1945.
emobbed in 1946, Mozley lost little time in building up associations from his pre-war career and connections made during the war. Through Victor Steibel and his partner, the composer Richard Addinsell, he would meet many in the theatre and film world, receiving commissions, particularly from Sir Alexander Korda, to design a number of theatre and film posters, stage sets, costumes and programmes between 1946 and 1955. Through authors and publishers, he advanced his portfolio of book jackets (more than 320), illustrations and drawings for books (more than 100), magazines and newspapers. At all times maintaining his contributions to both participating in the major event-led artistic initiatives and opportunities that followed the war. The Royal Wedding, the Festival of Britain, School Prints, Lyon’s Lithographs, the Coronation paintings, posters and drawings and combining these commissions with producing auto-lithographs for Gallery Exhibitions and paintings at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Jack Beddington’s move to the leading advertising agency Colman, Prentice & Varney led to numerous commissions for oil paintings, posters and illustrations from major corporate names such as Shell, B.E.A, B.O.A.C, Yardley, Goya, D.H.Evans, etc.
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PRINCIPAL EXHIBITIONS 1932 - 1991 |
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1932 |
Hibbert Brothers Gallery |
(Solo) Oils, watercolours, etc. |
Sheffield Yorkshire |
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1941 |
M O M A “Britain at War” |
Watercolour “Kentish Lane” |
New York, USA |
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1945 |
Royal Academy |
“D -2” Oil on canvas |
Piccadilly |
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1946 |
New English Art Club |
Oil on Canvas |
R.B.A Gallery |
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1947 |
New English Art Club |
Oil on Canvas |
R.B.A Gallery |
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1948 |
A.I.A Gallery |
Auto-lithographs |
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1948 |
Redfern Gallery |
Auto-lithograph |
Mayfair |
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1949 |
Paul Alexander Gallery |
Auto-lithographs (Curator: P. Floud) |
Kensington |
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1950 |
Royal Academy |
“Gorleston” Oil on canvas |
Piccadilly |
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1951 |
Festival of Britain |
Mural “Florence Nightingale” |
South Bank |
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1953 |
Redfern Gallery |
Auto-lithograph |
Mayfair |
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1956 |
Royal Academy |
“Ham Common” Oil on canvas |
Piccadilly |
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1960 |
Savage Gallery |
Oils and Lithographs |
South Kensington |
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1960 |
Senefelder Group, Arts Council |
Auto-lithograph |
South London Art Gallery |
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1964 |
Ind Coope Art Collection |
Oil on canvas (Curator:P.Cochrane) |
Traveling |
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1966 |
Pugh & Carr Gallery |
Pictures & Posters |
Kensington |
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1971 |
Burke’s Club, Peter Matthews |
“Bon viveur à Paris” |
Mayfair |
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1972 |
Peter Matthews Gallery |
Various Media |
Mayfair |
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1973 |
Peter Matthews Gallery |
Various Media |
Mayfair |
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1974 |
Peter Matthews Gallery |
Various Media |
Mayfair |
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1977 |
Mermaid Theatre |
Oils and Lithographs “Review of the Fleet” (Solo) |
Blackfriars |
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1979 |
Somerset House Palazzo Prigione |
(Solo) 227 works depicting Venice |
London and Venice |
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1983 |
Hamiltons |
(Solo) Various |
Mayfair London |
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1989 |
King Street Gallery |
(Solo) Retrospective |
Mayfair London |
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MOZLEY PICTURES HELD BY FOLLOWING INSTITUTIONS
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Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Gallery, Imperial War Museum, British Museum Reading University, Durham University, Warwick University, Shell Heritage Art Collection National Motor Museum Beaulieu |
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Mozley sold many of his oil paintings directly to private clients, a sign of his expansive character, extensive social circle and his somewhat ambivalent relationship with art dealers and critics. He was critical of much of the humbug of the art world, a fact which was probably not helpful to his career. While the 1960’s commenced with exhibitions of works at the Robert Savage Gallery and the South London Art Gallery, the decade saw him most in demand with illustration commissions from most of the leading publishers. In 1964 Peter Cochrane, director of Arthur Tooth & Sons, would purchase an oil painting of Paris on behalf of the brewers Ind Coope. Later in the decade, Peter Matthews, a relation by marriage of Dudley Tooth, would arrange five shows for Mozley at his gallery in Mayfair and encourage him to frequent Paris to paint and develop his flair for the “joie de vivre”. The first of these in 1971, where the private viewing was held at Burke’s Club, was a particular success with 18 of the 60 sold on the opening night.
Restaurants, bars and social inter-action were favourite motifs that would become a significant section of his oeuvre. His ability to be humorous and depict both pathos and absurdity provided a wealth of images, real or constructed. He found these in Bohemian life wherever the location might actually be. Not that Mozley was naturally a “bohemian” or anything other than a strict up-right figure, but he nevertheless, revelled in recording and expressing images of the foibles of human nature. His versatility was noted by those, whether private or corporate, publisher or agent who sought images of character, emotion, or place. As Nicholas Barker noted in his obituary in 1991, Mozley’s works were “a graphic mirror of the post-war era”.
The fine art works for gallery exhibition were accompanied by a series of commissions from both private and corporate clients. The most notable of these came from the wine subsidiaries of Bass Charrington and their associated suppliers across the Continent.
For his entire adult life Mozley lived in Kensington and then Kew. He had five children, three girls and two boys. He travelled widely in Europe both as a city visitor and vineyard observer.
