Grandma Moses

A tiny, lively woman with mischievous gray eyes and a quick wit, she could be sharp-tongued with a sycophant and stern with an errant grandchild.

"[1] Moses's work has been a subject of numerous museum exhibitions worldwide and has been extensively merchandised, such as on greeting cards.

In 2006, her 1943 painting titled Sugaring Off was sold at Christie's New York for US$1.36 million, setting an auction record for the artist.

As a child, she started painting using lemon and grape juice to make colors for her "landscapes"[1] and used ground ocher, grass, flour paste, slacked lime, and sawdust.

[7][8] To supplement the family income at Mount Nebo, Anna made potato chips and churned butter from the milk of a cow that she purchased with her savings.

Later, the couple bought a farm,[3] Mount Airy, near Verona, Virginia; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Although she loved living in the Shenandoah Valley, in 1905 Anna and Thomas moved to a farm in Eagle Bridge, New York, at her husband's urging.

When Thomas Moses was about 67 years of age in 1927, he died of a heart attack, after which Anna's son Forrest helped her operate the farm.

[12] Being practical, painted works would last longer than her embroidered compositions made of worsted wool, which risked being eaten by moths.

"[14] Moses painted scenes of rural life[12] from earlier days, which she called "old-timey" New England landscapes.

The unrest and the neurotic insecurity of the present day make us inclined to enjoy the simple and affirmative outlook of Grandma Moses.

"[1] During a visit to Hoosick Falls in 1938, Louis J. Caldor, an art collector who worked as an engineer in the state of New York, saw paintings made by Moses in the window of a drug store.

The next year, three Grandma Moses paintings were included in New York's Museum of Modern Art exhibition titled "Contemporary Unknown American Painters".

Her first solo exhibition, "What a Farm Wife Painted", opened in New York in October 1940 at Otto Kallir's Galerie St.

Her art displays included samples of her baked goods and preserves that won Moses prizes at the county fair.

Her third solo show in as many months was held at the Whyte Gallery, Washington, D.C.[12] In 1944, she was represented by the American British Art Center and the Galerie St. Etienne, which increased her sales.

[5] The paintings of Grandma Moses were used to publicize American holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mother's Day.

[20] A Mother's Day feature in True Confessions (1947) written by Eleanor Early noted how "Grandma Moses remains prouder of her preserves than of her paintings, and proudest of all of her four children, eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Art historian Judith Stein noted: "A cultural icon, the spry, productive nonagenarian was continually cited as an inspiration for housewives, widows and retirees.

[1] President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club trophy Award for outstanding accomplishment in art in 1949.

[3] President John F. Kennedy memorialized her: "The death of Grandma Moses removed a beloved figure from American life.

[23] Otto Kallir of the Galerie St. Etienne gave her painting July Fourth (1951) to the White House as a gift in 1952.

[27] She appears on the far left edge in the Norman Rockwell painting Christmas Homecoming, which was printed on The Saturday Evening Post's December 25, 1948, cover.

Anna Mary Robertson in the 1860s
Wedding pendant photos taken in 1887 of Anna Mary and Thomas Moses [ 6 ]
Anna Mary Robertson Moses with two of her children
Fireboard decorated by Moses in 1918
1953 photo of Moses “donating her painting "Battle of Bennington" to Mrs. George Kuhner who accepts it for DAR .”
The 1969 U.S. postage stamp honoring Grandma Moses. It shows a detail of her painting July Fourth , which the White House owns.