Ed Moses (artist)

Ed Moses (born April 9, 1926) is an American artist based in the Los Angeles area and considered one of the most innovative and central figures of postwar West Coast art.

Moses exhibited at the legendary Ferus Gallery in 1957 along with fellow prominent artist figures including Wallace Berman, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John Altoon, Larry Bell and Ed Ruscha. Over the next five decades, Moses would soar to prominence, gaining attention not only throughout Los Angeles and the United States, but internationally as well. Moses was the first to do so of his generation since John McLaughlin, Richard Diebenkorn and Sam Francis. While these artists developed a mature style, Moses has managed to resist any stylized approach and remain more experimental, playing to his curiosities by moving past what he already knows.

Moses' mother, Olivia Branco, separated from her husband, Moses' father Alphosus Lemuel Moses, shortly before he was born. Branco was Portuguese and living in Lapahoehoe, Hawaii with her husband when she became pregnant. She sailed to Long Beach, California; Moses was born on the ship on April 9, 1926, the youngest of 3 children; his brother George died before he was born. Periodically, mostly during summers, Moses would visit his father in Hawaii.

Between the ages of 8 and 9, Moses was home schooled to prevent contracting tuberculosis. When he was 10, his older brother Johnny (age 14) died as a result of a defective heart valve. Moses went back to school until age 17 when he dropped out to enlist in the Navy.

He was accepted into the Navy Medical Corps and served as a scrub assistant, assisting in operations at the San Diego Naval Hospital. Upon leaving the Navy in 1947 (age 22) Moses enrolled in a pre-med program at Long Beach City College. While very intelligent, Moses had poor memorization skills and as a result was not accepted into medical school in the United States.

Deciding not to become a doctor, Moses enrolled in his first art classes with eccentric Pedro Miller, a graduate from the Art Institute of Chicago. Sitting in the back and terrified of criticism from Miller, Moses would finger-paint his first still life in class while making jokes with his friends. Miller walked over to check on Moses' work and immediately declared him "a real artist".

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