Carl Edwin Moser (1920-2012)

Carl Edwin Moser was born in Catawba County, NC, and this is also where he lived for most of his life.  He was a World War II veteran, serving with the Seabees in the South Pacific; and later he started Carl Moser Masonry and was a charter member of the Western North Carolina Masonry Contractors Association.

Annie Call, not dated
photograph on paper
Gift of the artist, 1996.2

Moser's avocation was photography, mostly of rural and mountain landscapes, wildflowers, and portraits. A member of Catawba Valley Camera Club since 1955, he often led photographers on field trips. He traveled widely throughout the United States and Europe to pursue his hobby. In 1985 he was one of forty-five American photographers invited by the Chinese government on a photographic tour of China.

Moser’s photographic style was reminiscent of Classical Romantic painters, in its careful composition and use of color and light. He saw beauty where others may not have, recording cool shade, tranquility, placid air and playful sunlight.

Moser’s photographs have earned top ratings in local and national competitions, and he has exhibited at the Hickory Museum of Art and other local galleries. His images have been published in books, textbooks, magazines, and calendars, and hang on walls of private homes, public buildings, hospitals, and churches. He often presented slide shows to schools, civic organizations, and church groups. He was the first Photographic Society of America member in North Carolina to earn a "galaxy of stars" rating for his participation in international photographic exhibitions.

Moser had a one-man show at HMA in 2011 called An Extraordinary Eye: Carl Moser Photographs from North Carolina to China. His Annie Call photograph was most recently part of the Museum's 70th Anniversary celebration in 2014, in the 1944 show.

Click here for a personal reminiscence by Aaron Canipe along with a selection of the North Carolina photographs.

Post by Karin Borei, HMA Project Coordinator, writer and editor as needed, and HMA blogger since our blog's inception in March 2015.