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Title
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Postcard. Paul B. Moses to Violette de Mazia
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Description
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About 1950, Paul Moses wrote to Violette de Mazia from Europe, joking he once paid for lodging in Venice with a 33⅓ record. Traveling with Philadelphia friends through Capri, Florence, and Venice, he calls Capri the most beautiful place he has seen and looks forward to studying the French Primitives in France with renewed excitement.
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Violette de Mazia (1899–1988) was an art educator, writer, and long-time collaborator of Dr. Albert C. Barnes at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania. Trained in philosophy and art history in Paris before immigrating to the United States, she helped shape the Barnes method of art appreciation. She co-authored and edited many Foundation’s publications, taught thousands of students over five decades, and later established the Violette de Mazia Foundation to continue her educational mission after her death.
Paul B. Moses (1929 - 1966) was born in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, attended Lower Merion High School and became one of the first Black undergraduates at Haverford College. Despite facing racism and isolation, he excelled in languages and art, studying abroad in France with the support of Albert C. Barnes, MD. After serving in the U.S. Army, he taught at institutions including the Barnes Foundation, Lincoln University, and at the American Overseas School in Rome before earning a Masters and pursuing a doctorate in art history at Harvard, where his dissertation specialized in Degas’s etchings (Moses and Scharff 2023).
A graduate of Cheney University, Alice Johnson married Paul in 1962. That same year, the couple moved to Chicago where he then joined the University of Chicago’s art department and became a distinguished, brilliant teacher, curator, and critic (Wikipedia contributors 2025e). Alongside his scholarship, he painted landscapes marked by sensitivity to light and form. Among these works was Ice House (c. 1956), the photo shown here, was a rustic scene that reflected his study of European Impressionism and his personal eye for the quiet beauty of everyday places.
Moses’s career was tragically cut short when he was murdered in a Chicago carjacking in 1966 at the age of 36. His legacy has since been honored through exhibitions such as “Paul B. Moses: Trailblazing Art Historian”, co-curated by his son Michael Moses and University of Chicago PhD student Stephanie Strother, which showcased his paintings, sketches, and letters. Just three years old when his father died, Michael has said that curating the exhibition helped him come to know his father through his art and personal possessions (Matei 2022). In 1983, an anonymous donor established the Paul B. Moses Scholarship Fund at Haverford College, awarded annually to students who exemplify “the character, talent and qualities of Paul Moses” (A Lasting Impact, n.d.).
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Contributor
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The Barnes Foundation
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Date Created
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(c. 1950)
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Creator
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Paul B. Moses
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Rights
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This work is not in copyright, but commercial uses of this digital representation are limited. For more information, contact reference@barnesfoundation.org and see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/
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Identifier
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AR-VDM-COR-GEN-79
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Language
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eng
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Format
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Text
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Extent
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2 sides
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Spatial Coverage
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Merion, PA
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Publisher
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The Barnes Foundation
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Is Part Of
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Violette de Mazia Collection, Barnes Foundation Archives
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Subject
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Postcards
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Artists, Black
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Carjacking
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Barnes, Albert C. (Albert Coombs), 1872-1951
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Haverford College
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University of Chicago
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Impressionism (Art)--French influences
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Segregation
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Lincoln University (Pa.)
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Moses, Paul
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Europe
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transcription
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via Rovereto,2
Roma
Have you ever paid your lodging with
a 331/3 record? Well, that’s the
way it’s turned out for me here in Venice
And this whole trip has some of that
slightly unusual character. I had the
good fortune of having some friends
from Philadelphia come to Europe for
a few weeks, rent a car and ask me
to accompany them. After Capri
which I found the most overwhelmingly
naturally beautiful and I have ever
seen, we have headed north to Florence,
Venice and finally France. My companion
and guide here will be the French Primitives.
I am as excited by the prospect of the
rest of the trip
as tho’ I had never been before. Best wishes to all.
Paul Moses
Miss Violette de Mazia
c/o Barnes Foundation
Merion
Pennsylvania
USA
