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Albert Moser (b.1928), “A Panoramic View of the Atlantic Ocean”, Trenton, New Jersey, 1988, Col…
Albert Moser
Albert Moser (b.1928), “A Panoramic View of the Atlantic Ocean”, Trenton, New Jersey, 1988, Col…
Albert Moser (b.1928), “A Panoramic View of the Atlantic Ocean”, Trenton, New Jersey, 1988, Color photographs, Scotch tape, and ballpoint pen, 6 x 21 in., Collection of the American Folk Art Museum, Gift of the Moser/Baum Family, 2020.3.1. Photo by American Folk Art Museum.

Albert Moser

(1928–2022)
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BiographyAfter finishing the ninth grade, Albert Moser joined the US Army and was sent to Japan for eighteen months as part of America’s occupying force after World War II. In March 1948, he traveled back to the United States and worked a number of odd jobs, including a short stint at the candy counter of a department store in Trenton. In January 1960, Moser enrolled in a photography course at the School of Industrial Arts offered to veterans, and completed the course in nine months, this was the only formal training Moser ever received in photography. His diploma marked the beginning of a long career as a photographer. Moser seems to have identified himself, first and foremost, as a photographer, joining the Trenton Camera Club and investing in various cameras, lenses, filters, and other photographic gear.
In the early 1970s, Moser began making panoramic, composite photographs of landscapes, cities, and other places that he liked to visit. Having chosen a particular view, Moser would slowly turn his camera, taking as many as thirty pictures from his position. He meticulously aligned and joined the photographs together using scotch or masking tape. Moser’s panoramas are dominated by cityscapes and skylines but occasionally feature residential neighborhoods or beachfront scenes. People appear in the photographs only as part of the larger setting, and they are rarely mentioned in the detailed descriptions that Moser neatly composed on the back of every photograph. Most of his photos also bear a custom ink stamp that reads “Albert Moser, Photographer, 58 Beechwood Ave., Trenton, N.J.” Moser lived with his parents until the age of 60 after which he lived in an assisted-living facility in Trenton.