Father to six, including City Councilman Khari Mosley
In 1946, the City of Pittsburgh became home to Thaddeus G. Mosley Jr.
Little did the city, or the state, or the nation or the world know that one of the most renowned sculptors of our time had chosen the Steel City as his home.
By the time he was called to his ultimate home, he had left an indelible mark on the artistic world.
The New Pittsburgh Courier learned that Mosley died on Friday, March 6, 2026. He was 99.
“Our hearts are broken to share the passing of our father, Thaddeus Mosley,” Pittsburgh City Councilman Khari Mosley said in a statement to the Courier. “He was a dedicated family man, ubiquitous community pillar, and an inimitable creative force who embodied the hard-working ethos of his blue-collar Western Pennsylvanian roots and the innovative essence of the classic jazz music that served as his spiritual inspiration. We are truly grateful for the enormous outpouring of love and support shown to our family during this unspeakably difficult time.”
THADDEUS MOSLEY JR.
Thaddeus Mosley Jr. was born on July 23, 1926, in New Castle, about 45 miles north of Pittsburgh. Even though Mosley’s father was a coal miner for some 40 years, Mosley knew as a youngster it wasn’t something he wanted to do as a career. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, ran track at the University of Pittsburgh, and played semi-pro basketball in the Pittsburgh area.
He worked part-time at the Pittsburgh Courier, primarily covering sports and also was a photographer. He then found a position with the U.S. Postal Service, staying there for nearly 40 years, but never abandoning his love for sculpting.
“Early on, I got interested in African tribal art and Scandinavian design, just from reading and spending time at the Carnegie Museum. I started making figures and heads and, from there, got into abstraction and started entering shows. I would say that my career followed a natural course,” Mosley said in an article in Pittsburgh Quarterly in 2010.
Mosley was a self-taught artist. Over the decades, he received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to American sculpture, including: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts’ Artist of the Year in 1979; Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Artist of the Year in 1999; the Arts and Letters Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021; the prestigious Isamu Noguchi Award in 2022; and an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Letters from his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, in 2022.
Highlights of his multi-decade career include: “Touching the Earth,” his public art fund-curated exhibition at New York’s City Hall Park (2025); “Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder,” a two-person presentation with one of his art heroes at the Seattle Art Museum (2024); his institutional solo exhibitions “Forest” at the Baltimore Museum of Art, “Maryland” (2021, traveled to Art + Practice, Los Angeles, and Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas), “La Suite de l’Histoire” at Paris’ Musée National Eugène Delacroix, and “Sculpture” (Studio | Home) at Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory (2009); group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2023), Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2022), Harvard Business School, Boston (2020), and Sculpture Milwaukee (2020); and his inclusion in the 57th Carnegie International (2018).
In Pittsburgh, his works can be seen in the Hill District: “Phoenix and Mountaintop”; at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center: “Three Rivers Bench”; and at Carnegie Mellon University’s Fifth and Clyde Courtyard: “Inverted Dancer,” among other locations.
Mosley’s work is also in the collections of prestigious art institutions, including: the Art Institute of Chicago; August Wilson African American Cultural Center; Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Legacy Museum, Montgomery, Alabama; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Portland (Maine) Museum of Art; Seattle Art Museum; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
In April, “Touching the Earth” will be the inaugural installation at Arts Landing, a soon-to-be-completed outdoor civic space and park in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.
Mosley is survived by his six children: Martel Mosley (Barbara), Rochelle Sisco, Lorna Mosley (Bill Baskin), Tereneh Idia, Anire Mosley, Khari Mosley (Chelsa); eight grandchildren: Carl, Martel, Dana, Jean Luc, Imani, Thaddeus, Isaiah, and Zaire; two great grandchildren: Jasmine and Aisha; as well as many beloved extended family members and close friends, including his longtime companion, Teruyo Seya.
Homegoing Celebration details for Mosley were not announced as of Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
