Arthur Moyse (21 June 1914 – 22 February 2003) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

Biography

Born in

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1914, Moyse moved to

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

, with his family after the death of his father, who was a merchant seaman. In his youth, he was actively involved in political activity, including the 1936

battle of Cable Street The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the East End of London, most notably Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march ...

in the East End of London, during which he helped to block

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

leader

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

’s march through the East End. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Moyse served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and took part in the 1944 airborne assault at Arnhem in

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He was

court-martialled A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

twice for

insubordination Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations such as the armed forces, which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying orde ...

, which reflected his lifelong disdain for

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

. After the war, he returned to civilian life as a

bus conductor A bus conductor (also referred to as a conductor or clippie) is a person (other than the driver) responsible for collecting fares from bus passengers and issues tickets to passengers. Bus conductors may also be responsible for helping passenger ...

in West London, a job he kept for decades and refused to leave even when offered a promotion, seeing it as part of his commitment to the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

. Moyse was a prolific self-taught artist, known for his humorous and satirical cartoons, collages, watercolours, and pen-and-ink work. Much of his artistic output was directed at the hypocrisies of middle-class life and the establishment. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, he was closely associated with

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, the British anarchist newspaper, where he wrote art criticism and contributed illustrations and political cartoons. Moyse exhibited in various London galleries, including solo shows at the

Flowers Gallery Flowers Gallery, also known as Flowers are two galleries in London (on Cork Street in the West End, and in Shoreditch in the East End), a third in the Chelsea district of New York City, and a fourth in Hong Kong. The gallery represents over ...

, and was a familiar figure in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

’s radical and bohemian arts scenes. He maintained a habit of sending illustrated letters and postcards to friends, often including satirical or political messages. Among his published works are ''Fragments of Notes for an Autobiography'', ''More in Sorrow'', and a co-authored pamphlet ''Surrealism and Revolution'' with fellow anarchist Jim Duke. He also illustrated texts, for example Shelley’s ''The Mask of Anarchy''. In his later years, Moyse lived in a small, cluttered flat in Shepherd's Bush in West London, surrounded by decades' worth of newspapers, zines, and art materials. He became increasingly reclusive, especially after the death of his beloved dog, Vicki. He died in 2003 at the age of 88. Smith (2019) expressed the fear that Moyse's huge archive of material 'has all but disappeared'. The

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

holds his work ''Private View''.

Chelsea Arts Club Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 4,000, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club wa ...

holds one of his works in its collection. And the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

has a print by him in its collection.Print by Arthur Moyse
His artistic and written works have become collectable.

Publications

* 1963. * 1964. * 1965. (With Jim Duke) * 1965. * 1968. * 1976. * 1982.

Notes

External links

Arthur Moyse – Anarchist Illustrator for Minus One

Arthur Moyse Content by or about Arthur Moyse (June 21 1914 - February 22 2003), anarchist and artist.

Who was Arthur Moyse?" by Kris Mininger (from "Going Postal!" #1)
*

Anarchism and the arts Anarchism has long had an association with the arts, particularly with visual art, music and literature. This can be dated back to the start of anarchism as a named political concept, and the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on the French reali ...

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

Irish anarchists 1914 births 2003 deaths People from County Wexford Irish writers Irish artists {{Anarchist-stub