Carl Moser

Carl Moser was born in Bolzano on January 27, 1873. At the wish of his family, he attended the Dresden Trade Academy from 1891 to 1893 and worked in his parents' business in Bolzano until 1896. In addition, he already worked as an artist and was encouraged by Franz Defregger to study art. From 1896 to 1901, Moser studied at the Academy in Munich with Gabriel von Hackl, Karl Raupp and Ludwig Herterich. After completing his studies, he traveled to Germany, Italy, Corsica and France. In 1901 he enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris. He spent the summer months in Brittany and Normandy. Through the Viennese painter Max Kurzweil, Moser got to know the Japanese woodcut technique, with which he worked intensively from now on and which he developed to perfection. Carl Moser returned to Bolzano in 1907, received grants in the following years and took part in numerous exhibitions. In 1915 he was drafted into military service as a lieutenant. After the end of the war, he participated in the "Tiroler Künstler" exhibition in Zurich initiated by Egger-Lienz. In the 1920s the artist achieved commercial success. He did not only become famous in South Tyrol, the demand for his coloured woodcuts was also great in Berlin. However, health problems increasingly kept the painter from working in the last years of his life. He died almost impoverished in Bolzano in 1939. In 1973 a large retrospective was dedicated to him in Bolzano and in 2006 an exhibition at Kastelbell Castle in Vitschgau.