Tony Bernard Mosman (born Anton Bernard Mosman) (1886–1985) was an American artist from Carroll, Iowa, United States. He produced landscape, still-life, and portrait paintings in oil, watercolor, pastel and acrylic. He was a published poet in the Atlantic MonthlyTimes Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Tuesday, September 11, 1979, p. 5 and has also written a novel and a series of short stories.
Background Mosman was born in 1886 in Carroll, Iowa, to Antonius Albertus Mosman (1856–1928) and Helena “Lena” Pittmann (or Puttmann)(1863–1956).Kenneth Freeman Mosman, ed., Fifteenth Through Twentieth Century Mos(s)man Families of Great Britain With Descendant Migrations and Histories, [Decorah, Iowa: Anundsen Publishing Company, 1997], p. 271–272. He was one of eight children.Anton A. Mosman, Obituary, The Carroll Times, Iowa, 26 Dec 1928, p. 1. He married Barbara Mary Wille (1886–1954) on June 3, 1913. He married a second time, on June 14, 1958, to Margaret Nees (1896–1989). He served as a Private of the National Guard in Carroll for years.Military Registration Card Mosman and Barbara had four children: Freda Barbara (Mosman) Stevens (1914–1993), Grace Josephine (Mosman) Darveaux (1920–1975), Louis Paul Mosman (1923–2017) and Harriet Mosman (1927–1928).
Mosman owned and operated the Carroll Paint Shop for thirty years,1920 U.S. Census, Ward 3, Carroll, Carroll County, Iowa, Sheet No. 10B, Line 551930 U.S. Census, Ward 3, Carroll, Carroll County, Iowa, Sheet No. 8A, Line 42 but he considered that being an artist was his true profession.1940 U.S. Census, Ward 3, Carroll, Carroll County, Iowa, Sheet No. 9B, Line 65 As a "widely recognized Western Iowa artist"Tony B. Mosman, Obituary, Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), 19 August 1985, p. 2 he twice exhibited his paintings in Omaha, Nebraska at the Jocelyn Memorial Art Museum.Carroll Daily Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Tuesday, November 30, 1937, p. 1Carroll Daily Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Tuesday, February 1, 1949, p. 1Council Bluffs Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa), Wednesday, February 2, 1949, p. 19 He also exhibited art at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and at art centers of: Sioux City, Iowa;Carroll Daily Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Friday, May 25, 1951, p. 1 Des Moines, Iowa; Denver, Iowa; Ames, Iowa;Carroll Daily Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Tuesday, February 9, 1965, p. 1 and Fort Dodge, Iowa.
In 1938, after submitting works to a national contest judged by Eleanor Roosevelt, he was asked to donate the paintings to a traveling exhibition that would go all over the country.Carroll Daily Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Monday, May 23, 1938, p. 8 He was appointed the Carroll committeeman for an art exhibit at Cornell College.Carroll Daily Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Thursday, December 7, 1939, p. 3The Mason City Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa), Thursday, December 7, 1939, p. 10 In 1965, he exhibited 41 paintings in the Carroll County State Bank. and in the Carroll Public Library in 1980.Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), Friday, April 25, 1980, p. 2 It was reported in 1965 that he had "over 1,000 paintings to his credit and some have brought as much as $150 at exhibitions." He sold about 30 of his paintings in 1979 in Sarasota and Tampa, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; San Francisco, California; and New York, New York.
He died of a stroke on August 16, 1985, at Carroll, Iowa, and is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Carroll, Iowa.Tony Mosman, Obituary, Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, 18 Aug 1985.
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