Arthur Harold Moss (November 1889 in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

– February 20, 1969 in

Neuilly-sur-Marne Neuilly-sur-Marne (, ) is a French commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. Geography Crossed by the river Marne. Climate Neuilly-sur-Marne has an oceanic climate (Köppen climat ...

) was an American

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and magazine editor.

Life

His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants. Arthur was inducted into the army on 4 Sep 1918. Arthur did not serve active duty in WW1. He served as a PVT with the QMC (Quarter Masters Corp) in Johnston Florida until he was discharged 8 JAN 1919. Arthur attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

for three years, but dropped out.

''The Quill''

In 1917, he returned to Greenwich Village, founding ''The Quill'' with partner

Harold Hersey Harold Brainerd Hersey (April 11, 1893March 1956) was an American pulp editor and publisher, publishing several volumes of poetry. His pulp industry observations were published in hardback as ''Pulpwood Editor'' (1937). Early life Hersey was bo ...

and was managing editor and wrote articles. It included artists Clara Tice, Wood Gaylor,

Mark Tobey Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 – April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosop ...

and Alfred J Frueh; writers included Ben De Casseres. He married Millia Davenport (1895–1992) and worked with her at ''The Quill''. They co-authored, ''The Quill: For And By Greenwich Village'', vol.4, no.8, 1919. They separated shortly thereafter. She went on to design costumes, and in 1948 wrote ''The Book of Costume''. In 1920, he hired his future wife Florence Gilliam to edit ''Quill''. In 1921 they moved to Paris, into a small apartment near Shakespeare and Company, the bookstore owned by

Sylvia Beach Sylvia Beach (14 March 1887 – 5 October 1962), born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and World W ...

''Gargoyle''

In August 1921, they began publishing ''Gargoyle'', an intense literary magazine. ''Gargoyle'' published reproductions of

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered the public domain in the United States. Life and career Early ...

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

. Writers contributing to the publication included

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

, Robert Coates,

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Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Inspired by the Romantics and his fellow Modernists, Crane wrote highly stylized poetry, often noted for its complexity. His collection '' White Buildings'' (1926), feat ...

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, H.D.,

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

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and Cuthbert Wright. Without outside backing and lacking a subscriber base, in October 1922, ''Gargoyle'' ceased publication. For the next few years Arthur would write a column for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and the ''Paris Herald''.

Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and his wife moved to Paris in December 1921. He loved books and frequented Shakespeare and Company where he met Moss, who convinced Hemingway to submit articles to ''Gargoyle''. These early writings drew the attention of

Robert McAlmon Robert Menzies McAlmon (also used Robert M. McAlmon, as his signature name, March 9, 1895 – February 2, 1956) was an American writer, poet, and publisher. In the 1920s, he founded in Paris the publishing house, ''Contact Editions'', where he ...

. The original writings are now in the JFK Library.

''Boulevardier''

In 1927 Arthur began publishing ''Boulevardier'' with Erskine Gwynne. Patterned after ''The New Yorker'', one of the regular illustrators was Raymond Peynet. Contributors included

Michael Arlen Michael Arlen (born Dikran Sarkis Kouyoumdjian;, , 16 November 1895 – 23 June 1956) was an essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter. He had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England, ...

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

Louis Bromfield Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896 – March 18, 1956) was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainabl ...

and

. Moss and Gilliam divorced in 1931. By 1932 he married Evalyn Marvel. He was survived by his widow Doreen Vidal.

Works

* * * * * *

Non-fiction

"The Turkish Myth", ''The Nation'', Arthur Moss & Florence Gilliam, June 23, 1923

Editor

References

External links

"Author Moss", ''The Lost Generation''''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2009. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Author 1889 births 1969 deaths American male poets American expatriates in France American magazine editors Cornell University alumni 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers