Tuesday Art ATTACK- Henry Mosler “ Le Retour”

Henry Mosler was born in Tropplowitz, Silesia (now Poland) on June 6, 1841. Henry's father Gustavus was a lithographer introducing Henry to art at an early age. Henry moved with his family to New York in 1849. They moved again in 1851 and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. In Ohio Mosler worked as an apprentice for a wood engraver. During his apprenticeship he also learned minor painting skills.

Self taught he became a draughtsman for a paper in Cincinnati named the Omnibus. In the late 1850s he studied with acclaimed painter James Henry Beard. Transitioning into the civil war Mosler got a job working as an art liaison for Harper's Weekly. Through this publication he put out many drawings and paintings voicing his strong Union support throughout the Civil War. He was also commissioned to do portraits of the Union Generals.

After the war in 1863, Mosler traveled to Dusseldor to study at the Royal Academy of Art. He studied there for three years followed by a short 8 month visit to Paris before returning home to the United States in 1866. Arriving home he became a sought after portrait artist by many wealthy individuals. 

He married his hometown sweetheart Sarah Cahn from Cincinnati in 1869. Not long after Mosler returned to Europe to study in Munich and then moved back to Paris in 1877. During these years living in France he painted most of his famous works, above all Le Retour; which he completed in 1879 while living in Brittany. This became the first ever American Painting bought by the Luxembourg Palace and he received a silver medal from the Salon in Paris. Only to later replace the silver with gold medals from both the Salon in Paris and Vienna in 1889.

Mosler moved back state side in 1894 in New York once more. He had a studio space in Carnegie Hall and served as a leading member of the National Academy of Design. He continued painting until his death on April 21, 1920. 

By Christian Franzen