Marlow Moss: Space, Movement & Light

A rare presentation of works from private collections by the leading British Geometric Abstractionist

Ward Moretti is pleased to present an exhibition dedicated to the work of the 20th Century Constructivist and pioneering Neoplastic artist Marlow Moss (1889-1958). Operating at the core of European Constructivism, Moss disrupted both the canvas and the societal conventions of the time in a lifelong quest for universal truth through mathematical precision and absolute geometric abstraction. Following recent institutional retrospectives in The Hague and Berlin, Marlow Moss: Space, Movement & Light brings together rarely seen paintings and works on paper from private collections presented alongside works by better known contemporaries including Piet Mondrian, Jean Gorin and Max Bill. The first commercial solo presentation in the artist's hometown of London in over half a century, the exhibition underlines the influence and enduring relevance of one of the true, uncompromising pioneers of modernism.

Born Marjorie Jewel Moss in London, Moss abandoned her early, formal studies and reinvented herself, rejecting traditionally feminine dress and adopting the ambiguously-gendered name 'Marlow'. After moving to Paris, Moss came into contact with the leading members of De Stijl, including Piet Mondrian, whom she met in 1929. Mondrian invited Moss to join the newly formed Abstraction-Création movement, positioned in opposition to Surrealism and rappel à l'ordre, and she became the only British artist and

only woman to have her work featured in all five group annuals. While Moss is often described as a 'disciple' of Mondrian, even using that term herself, the relationship was mutually influential, with Moss credited by scholars as having been the first to use the double-line that was later adopted by Mondrian.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Moss, who was Jewish, left her life and much of her work in France, fleeing at short notice back to Britain where she spent the rest of her life living and working in Cornwall. Sadly her French home and contents were destroyed during the Second World War bombing campaigns. She enjoyed some success during her lifetime, including shows at prestigious venues such as the Hanover Gallery under the directorship of the formidable Erica Brausen, but the scarcity of work - a third of her oeuvre of paintings is assumed lost or destroyed - saw Moss increasingly overlooked following her death in 1958.

One of the few surviving pre-War works by Moss, White, black and blue (1931) features in the exhibition alongside later work made in Cornwall, including one of her best-known paintings, White, black, yellow and blue (1954). By presenting these works in the context of her peers, the exhibition seeks to emphasise Moss's significant contribution to international modern art and to highlight her importance within the broader development of European abstraction.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication edited by Lucy Howarth, the leading expert on the artist.