Discovering The Artist Ugo Mochi
By: Jeanne Mochi
Tags: Ugo Mochi, Art History, Italian Artists, Art, 20th Century Art

Ugo Mochi 1889–1977

“The Poet of Shadows”

It is difficult to separate an artist’s work from the time in which they lived. Circumstances and events impact all of our lives. Who we are, and what we achieve, often depends on our ability to adapt to what is beyond our control; to adapt without losing sight of ourselves. This is the human experience. It is familiar and it resonates because it is as true now as it has ever been. Today, the sudden change, the instability, and the pandemic that continues to sweep through our world will deeply impact our lives and our choices moving forward.

More than 130 years ago when my father, the artist Ugo Mochi (mōKē), was born, World War I and the Spanish Flu were still a quarter-century in the future. Italy was in a state of extreme social and political unrest. This is a story of the life of a young boy who lived through those perilous times; how he persevered and went on to live a full and creatively rich life.

His story begins in the magnificent city of Florence, Italy. Ugo Mochi was born into a large family of comfortable means in the year 1889. As a young boy of six, Ugo endlessly observed the streets of his neighborhood. He studied horses, carriages, and people going through the motions of everyday Italian life.

One of the paper cutouts made with a pair of scissors by Ugo Mochi at age 6.

With few tools to use, he took scissors and paper and cut out all he saw. His many cutouts were his toys. Who would think that one day this very young boy would become known and admired around the world for his beautiful paper cut artworks?

Sculpture created by Ugo Mochi, then a 14 year old student of the Academy of Fine Arts Florence.

At the age of 10 Ugo’s parents, recognizing his talent, enrolled him in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He would study there for the next five years. His life was perfect. He aspired to be a famous sculptor and, if things had gone as planned, he might have been. Tragically, at the age of only 15, Ugo’s father was killed, and shortly after, his mother died. The sudden and unexpected death of both his parents left Ugo and his six siblings orphans.

Soon after, Ugo was sent to Bergamo to work at a commercial design studio to support himself. Despite his age and limited experience, his talent allowed him to rise rapidly in the company, but his heart was not in it. Still grieving the loss of his parents, he was unhappy, heartbroken, and alone. He longed for his family. His older brother, an engineering student, advised him to leave Bergamo and join him in Milan. Still a teenager, he earned money doing design work for other students and took voice lessons in hopes of becoming a singer.

In 1909, he traveled to Berlin with ambitions of attending the Conservatory. Though he lived a very unsettled life, Ugo was never without his sketchbook, pencil, and knife. Alone in a foreign country, they came in handy. When he first arrived, he spoke no German and often drew pictures to be understood. When necessary, he would sleep on park benches and literally, sing for his supper.

On one such occasion, singing in a popular restaurant, he met individuals from the local arts community and their well-connected patrons. They became interested in the artistic talents of this very handsome and elegant young man. That chance encounter led Ugo to introductions to the right people and before long he received a scholarship and was enrolled in the Berlin Art Academy studying under one of Germany’s most famous master sculptors, August Gaul.

Portrait of June Skelton, Ugo Mochi’s first wife.

Just three years later, love would change his life. In 1912 Ugo married a young American woman named June Skelton. She had traveled abroad to study voice under the renowned opera singer, Frieda Hemple. Pre-war Berlin had a vibrant arts community, and it was an exciting place to be.

Self-portrait of the artist, Ugo Mochi.

Ugo and his bride intended to remain there to pursue their careers. Ugo would spend much of his time watching, studying, and recording all he saw on the bustling streets of Berlin. He produced a series of postcards of his street scenes and earned commissions for family portraits. Ugo’s portrait works were in great demand, and all of them in his original style of the paper outline.

While in Berlin, his fascination with animals often drew him to the Berlin Zoo. He would spend long hours observing and sketching. Ugo carefully studied the unique form and movement of each animal. He devoted countless hours to mastering the anatomy and form of each majestic creature.

In the summer of 1914, World War I brought widespread death and destruction to millions. Only a few years later the Spanish Flu of 1918 would kill over 50 million more. As with all of Europe, this was a time of great hardship and uncertainty for Ugo and his wife.

As an Italian citizen residing in Berlin, Ugo was a civil prisoner. For four years Ugo and June had a curfew imposed on them from 7pm to 7am. Throughout the war, he was obliged to report daily to the authorities on the other side of Berlin.

By the second half of the war food shortages, rationing and extreme social unrest made that daily exercise more arduous and more dangerous. When it was finally over, the violence and privation of war were followed by the chaos of occupation and influenza. It was only because Ugo had carefully preserved all important documents that they were allowed to leave Germany.

Ugo was eager to return to Italy and Milan would be their destination. After the devastation of six years of war and disease, people were longing for peace and some semblance of normal life. They needed to put it all behind them. Ugo was welcomed back to his home country and his artwork was admired and very much in demand. He was once again hopeful.

While in Berlin, Ugo had produced a sizable body of work. Even during the war years, he never stopped working for clients and himself. It wasn’t long before he had an exhibit outside of Milan, followed by the publication of his first book of animals.

A small sample of the commissioned artwork for Campari.

He began an extensive commission of more than 200 images for Campari in the early to mid-1920s. Today, 45 of these original works are still on display at the museum, Galleria Campari in Milan. Like his pre-war Berlin works, they reflect the culture as well as the mood of that time and place.

One of a series of silk work panels from the Life of Marsilio Ficino, (Lorenzo the Magnificent’ on a Falcon Hunt.)

June’s singing career was going well, and the couple often performed together. Ugo was talented, he had a fine voice and enjoyed singing. While June was scheduling singing engagements, Ugo was hard at work on several commissions. Notably one for a Florentine villa: 23 multi-colored silk panels depicting the life of a famous Renaissance Humanist, Marsilio Ficino. Consider that these complex illustrations filled with action and emotion were each cut from single sheets of black paper. The richly colored silk was then placed like stained glass behind the outline. The only place this collection (Marsilio Ficino Silks) can be viewed is digitally on the Ugo Mochi official website, ugomochi.com.

Prince Albert, Duke of York & Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, (King George VI & Queen Elizabeth.)

His portrait work was an important part of his portfolio, and he was a tireless chronicler of the artists, writers, and musicians of his acquaintance. The couple spent the summers of 1922–1924, in London for concerts and singing engagements. Between engagements, Ugo was busy making posters for the Underground Railroad, working on portraits of famous British personalities, and creating small circular silk work scenes to adorn the Royal Suite at Claridge’s.

During one such summer, in 1923, Ugo had also arranged for an exhibit of his artwork. The exhibition was to be held in the home of a wealthy antiquarian, a Mr. Piazanni. The guest list was made up of wealthy and influential people including royalty. It was at this exhibition that one of his pieces was purchased for Windsor Castle.

Ugo’s showing had been a great success and for him, this was a life-changing event. In an excerpt from his journal, he states:

“By pure chance, while my wife was on tour in London and other parts of

England, I met a friend, the Milan correspondent of the ‘Corriere della Sera,’

Guilio Confalonieri. Upon his request and that of a London antiquary,

I organized an exhibit of a large number of my works, except sculpture. The great coverage given this exhibit by the whole London press succeeded in arousing great interest and set in motion other linotypes in Europe and in America. When I returned home, I was interviewed by an agent of Pathe News of New York.”

The news traveled to America, the story of Ugo Mochi and his incredible artwork was played on Pathe News in theaters and a large article appeared in The Herald Tribune in New York.

It was such a great success that it was then and there that he decided to devote the rest of his life to his art, which he called “The Art of Outline.” He continued to live and work in Pallanza, outside of Milan through March 1928, when he traveled to America to join June in New York.

The “Peacock Window” at the St. Regis Hotel 1928.

The year 1928 marks Ugo’s first work in America, large silk work panels for the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The “Peacock Window” was installed in the newly renovated dining room in November. At the time, the work was valued at $100,000. Ugo’s career was promising; he received many commissions for similar works.

It appeared as though their struggle was behind them, but once more Ugo was to suffer a great loss. Just days after the St. Regis unveiling, his beloved wife June died suddenly. Again, he found himself alone, in a foreign country, and with limited knowledge of the language.



Both instinct and experience had taught him that when you’re down if you don’t get up quickly you may not get up at all. I know my father felt his losses and disappointments deeply. In his life, there were enough periods of great happiness and artistic satisfaction to propel him forward. He had tremendous faith, tenacity, and an inability to remain idle.

He was in New York with commissions in hand, he believed his career would continue to progress. In time, Ugo would remarry and happily start a family.

Few were prepared for what occurred in the months ahead. The Great Depression of 1929 lasted throughout the 1930s. The next 10 years would again find Ugo adapting to survive. His commissions had fallen through, as much of the construction was halted. Nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. There were millions out of work and in despair.

Seeking work again, Ugo made the rounds with his portfolio. Canvassing publishers for illustration work, and random companies that might need letterhead or ads for print. He even visited retail stores that might want creative window displays. He was one of many artists who turned to commercial work in the 30s. Ugo did find work, including series of illustrations for national magazines, and advertisements for Texaco and Cunard Lines.

An example of one of Mochi’s paper sculptures used for displays.

Ugo took any work that came his way. His years of training, his versatility, and his distinctive style brought work his way. Talent and creativity brought his images to life. The subject matter may have changed but the technique remained the same.

World War II presented another period of great change, more death and destruction around the world. With the war effort, shortages of material and rationing made it difficult for department stores to create window displays. Always creative and resourceful Ugo constructed three-dimensional paper sculptures to make captivating window displays in department stores all around the country, including in New York City.

Between commissions, Ugo worked on his “pet projects” like his animal collection, his musician portraits and his transportation collection.

The portraits of First Ladies: Martha Washington, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and Helen Herron Taft.

In 1943, Ugo received a commission for “The First Ladies of the White House” to be included in an encyclopedia. There are 32 works depicting America’s First Ladies in their inaugural gowns from Martha Washington to Eleanor Roosevelt. The extensive research and work took three years to complete. This was to be one of his proudest accomplishments. Today the original pieces are at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

His last large installation was 14 two-foot by eight-foot backlit panels created for the American Museum of Natural History depicting animals from different parts of the world and different periods in time.

When considering the volume and variety of his work also consider the time he spent thoroughly researching his subjects to ensure both anatomical and historical accuracy. Numerous drawings preceded any use of his lithographer’s knife. Today the ability for contemporary artists to easily access and manipulate digital imagery, it’s a wonder to observe what the human imagination and the human hand can produce.

The Greater Kudu, from “Hoofed Mammals of the World” (Ugo Mochi and T. Donald Carter.)

The artist would spend the last 25 years of his life devoted to portraying the animal kingdom in all its splendor and diversity. Carving out their forms with his knife, he enabled the viewer to feel the strength and power of the elephants and lions while capturing the graceful agility of the antelope and the grandeur of the great stag. These are his most sculptural works, portraying animals running toward you or running into the forests. Books on hoofed mammals, African wildlife, zebras, giraffes, and horses. He worked in close collaboration with the esteemed author Dorcas MacClintock. Ugo Mochi published ten beautifully illustrated books (two of his books were published posthumously.)

Over an archway, in his studio, there was a motto that Dad had hung on the wall: “The Most Important Moment in Your Life Is Right Now.”

It was more than just a saying to him; it was his ethos — the principle he lived his life by. We and generations to come are the beneficiaries of that zeal. It inspired him to create countless works of art, over the course of a long and very well-spent life.

One afternoon in late summer, while hard at work in his studio, Ugo suffered a fatal attack. He was 88 years old.

Ugo Mochi left behind a vast body of work, he was incredibly prolific. He chose a medium that allowed him to continue to work without regard to where his travels took him, or how lean his circumstance became. He needed only paper, pencil, knife, and a sharpening stone to produce the most extraordinary artworks. When you think of how much art was lost or destroyed during times of war and great turmoil, we can be grateful that he was able to carry so much of his work with him.

He chose a medium that was close to forgotten, that of the art of outline. In his many lectures, Mochi traced it back to the early outline cave drawings, and to the Greek vases; citing many other outlines and cut works through history. The silhouette was a part of that long and varied history, particularly in the 1700s and early-1800s.

Why is Ugo Mochi’s work important and worthy of wider exposure and appreciation? Let me quote what a writer expressed in an article written after viewing his exhibit.

“To make a shadow portrait is one thing and comparatively simple, but to take a sheet of black paper and work it into a piece portraying life, motion, light, shadow and perspective is something else — art in its higher expression…”

Ugo Mochi changed the way we look at outline art. Expanding all of its possibilities. This flat seemingly simple medium is transformed in the hand of a trained sculptor. It is lifted to a fine art.

An article printed many years ago in the Washington Post about the artist put it this way:

“The world needs to know about the very pure artists who produce from a vital born urge, from the necessity of self-expression, and whose creation if offered in secret to some unknown and passionate ideal. We are those who loose from ignoring their art — not they.”

During one of Mochi’s exhibitions, the museum’s director turned to me, while looking at an ornate coach, and observing the passengers with such life-like gestures and said, “One could almost hear what they were saying”.

There's no better time than this to reintroduce Ugo Mochi’s magnificent artwork and have it seen through fresh eyes. Since his death, there have been more than a dozen exhibitions of his work. The last one-man exhibition was in 2003, close to 20 years ago. In 2018, a group of his selected works was included in “The Art of Campari” an exhibit at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London.

The creativity of man’s endeavors is always of interest to people. Ugo Mochi’s works are in permanent collections of the: Metropolitan Museum of Art,

American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Berlin Museum of Natural History, Windsor Castle, London Transportation Museum, Clark Institute, Galleria Campari, and the National Museum of Racing & Hall of Fame.

Quotes from the artist:

“I was able to communicate with the simplest of tools.”

“This (met) with such success that slowly it became my expression through which my personality was undeniably recognized.”

‘What has given this work a special character is my pure sense of form being myself a sculptor not a painter.”

Capturing life in motion, catching a moment in time, the form, the gesture, that was my father’s special gift. It is for the viewer to enjoy and ponder more than the line alone presents.

Words can never take the place of the real thing. Our family has shared a diverse selection of his work online. Currently, the website, ugomochi.com, is the only place for the public to view the life and collective works of this extraordinary artist.

Feast yourself on the artwork and enjoy.