Mose Tolliver was one of twelve children born to sharecropper parents and is himself the father of fourteen children. He attended school briefly in Macedonia, a small community south of Montgomery, but dropped out to take odd jobs to help support his family. Later, Tolliver moved to Montgomery where he presently lives. In the late sixties, he was forced to retire from his job in a furniture factory after an accident which crushed his feet. Several years later, following encouragement from a friend. Tolliver painted his first picture, a flower. Almost fifteen years later he continues his serious pastime, often repeating his subjects which include birds, buses, turtles, snakes, fish, self-portraits, and male and female figures, many with clearly evident sexual content. Tolliver is a prolific painter, occasionally producing eight to ten paintings a day on scraps of plywood, paneling, or masonite. He has also painted gourds, beds, chairs, cafeteria trays, and other objects brought t him by friends and customers. He uses ordinary housepaint and prefers a limited palette, but his color combinations are sophisticated and striking. There is often a minimalist quality to the work, and Tolliver is reluctant to alter his style, despite suggestions from would be customers. "I just told them that if that ain't the way they want it, then they don't have to get it. "Wife, Willie Mae, attempts to impose some business sense in the selling of the work, but the amiable Tolliver persists in selling according to his mood. Artist friend, Anton Haardt, recalls "the days he would set all his paintings out in the yard with price tags of $1.00 each. For some reason it was important that people buy them. But sometimes I think he enjoyed it more then."