In 1940, she traveled with Carolyn Thomas, owner of the drugstore that first exhibited her work, to New York City where the famed Gimbels department store was holding an exhibit of her paintings. A large crowd gathered to hear her speak and she discussed not only her work but also the homemade jams and breads she had brought with her. US$1,000. Most similar are his paintings of a countryside scene in Birch Craig, Northumberland (c.1930), to which he returned to exactly the same landscape for each of the four seasons. 1950's. Her naive style (labeled American Primitive by art historians) was acclaimed for its purity of colour, its attention to detail, and its vigour. Murrow. Soon after, Hallmark purchased the rights to reproduce her paintings on greeting cards and the name Grandma Moses became known across the country. Moses spent most of her life in nearby Eagle Bridge, New York depicting the rural landscape of Washington County. Moses appeared on magazine covers, television, and in a documentary of her life. This would help launch Grandma Moses to the masses. Each purchase comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. She never married again. Never truly embracing the "art world" she remained humble, even surprised at the interest in her work. The indefatigable artist has been the subject of exhibitions at the worlds most prestigious institutions, from the Museum of Modern Art and Centre Pompidou to the Stedelijk Museum and Tate Modern. [10], In 1950, the National Press Club cited her as one of the five most newsworthy women and the National Association of House Dress Manufacturers honored her as their 1951 Woman of the Year. WebGrandma Moses Goes to the Big City Grandma Moses 1946 A Tramp on Christmas Day Grandma Moses 1946 Apple Butter Making Grandma Moses 1944-1947 According to Marling, at the end of her life, Moses had sold 100 million Christmas cards. "[1] From her works of art, she omitted features of modern life, such as tractors and telephone poles. In this way, the inclusion of her paintings with such advertisements demonstrates how Moses' works became patriotic symbols and even occasionally propagandist tools in the hands of marketers. What is the Value of your Grandma Moses collectibles? WebAt auction, a number of Picassos paintings have sold for more than $100 million. In 1936, Anna retired and moved to her daughters home. WebThe nations first collection of American art, an unparalleled record of the American experience. The artist best known as "Grandma Moses" was born Anna Mary Robertson; the third of ten children to parents Russell King Robertson, a flax farmer, and Mary Shannahan Robertson. Grandma Moses. Set in the springtime with rolling hills and green trees, other figures are also shown collecting eggs. She was raised with four sisters and five brothers. WebGrandma Moses initially charged very little for her paintings three to five dollars. Her name was a now household word in America, and after the end of World War II her reputation had spread abroad as well. WebMoses' paintings are displayed in the collections of many museums. [2], A 1942 piece, The Old Checkered House, 1862, was appraised at the Memphis 2004 Antiques Roadshow. Her discovery by a wider audience came about due to the purchases of her paintings by a New York art collector in 1938. In her later reflections on the area she stated, "five graves I left in that beautiful Shenandoah Valley". Moses spent most of her life in nearby Eagle Bridge, New York depicting the rural landscape of Washington County. 'She knocks out a work of art faster than a chorus girl can put on her lipstick." Even celebrities, coveted her work including Bob Hope who according to art historian Karal Ann Marling in his January 17, 1946 column, "boasted that he had just bought a wintertime barnyard scene by the eminent G. Moses. Atlanta, Georgia 30328 | 877.481.5750, A Timeline of Botanical Art: Exploring Its History, Great Discoveries: Antique Painting Found Behind Cottage Door, Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses).. A renowned folk artist, Grandma Moses started her career at the age of 78 and is a prime example of someone who successfully created an art career at a late age. ", As Grandma Moses' popularity grew so did demands for her paintings and she became inundated with orders. Since childhood, as the only sister amongst brothers, Moses passionately resented and resisted the patriarchal stereotype of women and girls being confined to the house, restricted, and dependent. All Rights Reserved, Designs on the Heart: The Homemade Art of Grandma Moses, Grandma Moses: American Modern' Review: An Icon as You've Never Seen Her, The Making of Grandma Moses, Folk Modernist, Goodwill Grandma: Anna Mary Robertson Moses and Cold War Cultural Diplomacy. While still quite removed from regular and fast-paced city life Moses initially did not know who Rockwell was. Her painting "Joy Ride" (1953) conveys a sense of fun after the labors were complete. Marling describes how, "although sales figures were a closely guarded company secret at first, Hallmark's Grandma Moses cards sold in the millions - especially the tiny Sugaring Off. Collectors typically pay more for quintessential Moses imagery of very active farm-life, with winter scenes being a collector favorite. WebAnna Mary Robertson Grandma Moses (1860-1961) started painting in her seventies and within years was one of Americas most famous artists. Anna Mary Robertson Moses grew up on a farm in upstate New York, where she worked as a hired girl, helping neighbors and relatives with cleaning, cooking, and sewing. AUD ($) [] The workers - joyous, industrious, solemn - have a context now in a place that is bright, serene, and reverential: the kindly village life of beautiful New England." Her specialty was depicting rural life, and she made landscapes and portraits based on that scenery. This would help launch Grandma Moses to the masses. She retired from farming, but her next career was just beginning. ", Unable to meet the growing demand, reproductions became an effective way to ensure everyone got to have a "Grandma Moses" of their own. Despite her responsibilities, Moses enjoyed her childhood, later describing it as, "happy days, free from care or worry, helping mother, rocking Sister's cradle, taking sewing lessons from mother sporting with my Brothers, making rafts to float over the mill pond, Roam the wild woods gathering Flowers, and building air castles." She also received many accolades including a Women's National Press Club Award in 1949 that was presented to her by President Harry S. Truman. 1943. GBP () It was in one of these homes in 1886, when she was twenty-six years old, that the young artist met Thomas Salmon Moses, a hired hand. The first, arranged as a publicity event by the Hallmark company for her 88th birthday, included a seven-foot-wide cake designed by artist and invited guest Norman Rockwell. If people can't get pleasure out of looking at a picture, what's the use of painting it?". [2], She was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants and Daughters of the American Revolution. Although she loved living in the Shenandoah Valley, in 1905 Anna and Robert moved to a farm in Eagle Bridge, New York at her husband's urging. Moses said that she would "get an inspiration and start painting; then I'll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live. As such, these sad recollections help to account for the tranquil and loving way in which the scene was rendered. The Wall Street Journal / In 1939 a collector saw her paintings in the window of the local pharmacy and bought them all. Moses appeared on magazine covers, television, and in a biographical documentary. Art remained a family pastime that Moses all but abandoned for a period in her life beginning as an early teen. In this painting Grandma Moses provides an idyllic view of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Lush green fields and flowering trees populate the foreground where three cows graze alongside a wooden rail fence. She helped raise the younger children, made soap and candles and boiled down maple sap." It was here that she gave birth to her children, half of whom never lived long enough to experience life themselves. In "Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City" (1946), in the Smithsonian American Art Museums collection, she depicts herselfat age 80about to leave on her first trip to New York City to see her paintings on view at Galerie St. Etienne. WebGrandma Moses initially charged very little for her paintings three to five dollars. [4], The paintings of Grandma Moses were used to publicize American holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mother's Day. Footage from Moses's 1955 interview with Edward R. Murrow is included. Much of the early years of Moses' marriage were also spent raising her children. In 1927, Moses' beloved husband died unexpectedly from heart failure. I paint pretty pictures. As the descriptive title suggests, in this painting, Grandma Moses depicts a scene of preparations for the Thanksgiving holiday. [23], Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses were friends who lived over the Vermont-New York state border from each other. Moses would have been familiar with the significance of the house having grown up near the building that was located in Cambridge, New York before it was burned down in a fire in 1907. WebMost of these early paintings were given away, but Grandma Moses did manage a few sales, charging US$2 or US $3 depending on painting size, with the larger paintings being more expensive. WebNew York Anna Mary Robertson Grandma Moses (1860-1961) started painting in her seventies and became one of Americas most famous folk artists. Grandma Moses. WebMoses became one of Americas most-loved painters. WebAt auction, a number of Picassos paintings have sold for more than $100 million. Airy, Augusta County, Virginia", "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mount Airy", "National Register of Historic Places Listings", "Grandma Moses in the 21st Century (originally published in, "Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) 18601961", "View from the Pier: Brushing up on some art with Vino and Van Gogh", "Norman Rockwell's Christmas Homecoming cover of the, "SAAM - Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City", "Grandma Moses: The Artist Behind the Myth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grandma_Moses&oldid=1141678885, Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 07:00. Galerie St. Etienne. Moses later confessed that painting had always been an interest to her, but she had no time to pursue it with the labors of farm life always the priority. By Robert Wolterstorff, Thomas Denenberg, Jamie Franklin, Diana Korzenik, Alexander Nemerov, By Jane Kallir, Roger Cardinal, Michael D. Hall, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Judith E. Stein, By Karen Wilkin / In 1952, she published her autobiography, My Life's History. The point being that Moses was making things all her life, there was an artistry and originality to all that she laid her hand to, from certain farming methods (she was famous for both her exquisite butter and delicious jam), to other modes of crafting, to painting. Her efforts proved futile however and in mid-December she died peacefully in her nursing home bed at the age of 101. While many critics could not get past what they deemed the "primitive" and "untrained" aspects of Moses' art, paintings such as this one helped to endear her to the American public and became very popular in a much wider reaching sphere than the art world. The scene that is portrayed in a Moses painting is very important, from a monetary standpoint. WebMoses' paintings are displayed in the collections of many museums. Cleary states, "when asked about price, Grandma Moses would reply, 'Well, how big a picture do you want?' In 1824, the Long family, who owned the house and operated it as an inn, entertained the famed Revolutionary figure General Lafayette." She married when she was twenty-seven and moved to a farm in Virginia, where she raised five children. As the brave and determined sister amongst brothers, she was aware from a young age that expectations and restrictions set against girls were unjust and infuriating. Plan your visit. Web1942 Grandma Moses Painting Value (2019) | $100,000Insurance Watch Read Appraisal Transcript GUEST: This has been in our family since Grandma Moses painted it. In "Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City" (1946), in the Smithsonian American Art Museums collection, she depicts herselfat age 80about to leave on her first trip to New York City to see her paintings on view at Galerie St. Etienne. Fiercely independent, Moses did not like this new arrangement and according to Cleary, upset that her doctor insisted she give up painting, "there were times when she was so annoyed with him that she would hide his stethoscope and refuse to reveal where it was unless he let her go back home." [4], At age 27, she worked on the same farm with Thomas Salmon Moses, a "hired man". She wrote an autobiography (My Life's History), won numerous awards, and was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees. The words also explain why Moses hasn't included people in the scene, for this is a painting dedicated to the spirits. Author Margot Cleary explains how, "years before she started painting in earnest, Grandma Moses would while away the time at the churn by gazing out on the Shenandoah Valley and wishing she could paint a picture of the scene. It is also worth noting that although she did not paint often in early life, Moses put her hand to a great deal of crafting projects, and she became particularly talented with needlework. Moses paintings can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and many other major museums. An art collector purchased her paintings from a drug store window and more from her home in 1938. Painting in a "childlike" style was greatly respected during the latter decades of the twentieth century, epitomized by the ideas and careers of Jean Dubuffet and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Grandma Moses had started this powerful wave many years before. Grandma Moses. This video presents a lecture by Bennington Museum Curator Jamie Franklin centered on a discussion of Grandma Moses's art. The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. They lived there until September 1902. Her spunkiness and no-nonsense attitude, even about the winding down of her own life, was confirmed in an answer to his question of what she would do for the next twenty years to which she replied, "I am going up yonder. Moses began painting, using whatever she could find around the house including house paint and fiber board. 1950's, Signed Autograph 3x5 Cut, Certified Graded by PSA DNA , ca. She painted nostalgic scenes of American life and sold them at country fairs alongside her prize-winning pickles. At the age of 27, she met Thomas Salmon Moses, who worked on the same farm. She was not home but her daughter-in-law told him to return tomorrow and Moses would show him another ten paintings. Set in lush country landscape, in the distance are rows of green trees and hills. 1943. These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet. After her marriage, Moses moved from New York and spent several decades living in the South including a period of time in the Shenandoah Valley. This aspect of her work is quite ironic, for although the subject of her work supports self-sustainability, and she herself held ambiguous views on the "progress" of industrialization, her popularization was fueled by burgeoning capitalism. [1], President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club trophy Award for outstanding accomplishment in art in 1949. On the numerous farms the two worked in various states during the early years of their marriage, Moses worked just as hard as her husband. The indefatigable artist has been the subject of exhibitions at the worlds most prestigious institutions, from the Museum of Modern Art and Centre Pompidou to the Stedelijk Museum and Tate Modern. Plan your visit. Anna Mary Robertson was born in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860; she was the third of ten children born to Margaret Shanahan Robertson and Russell King Robertson. In the center are the outlines of other houses and a church steeple along with wagons of people heading toward the sugaring off activities. Her ability to capture the spirit of America was reinforced by then President John F. Kennedy who upon her death made an official statement, which read, "her passing takes away a beloved figure from American life. All Americans mourn her loss. She had ten children however five died at or shortly after their births. A membership group for young professionals who are interested in immersing themselves in the American art experience. Maier Museum of Art at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, "Obituary: Grandma Moses Is Dead at 101; Primitive Artist 'Just Wore Out', "Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses Biography", "National Register of Historic Places Program: Women's History Month Feature 2013 - Mt. The scene is so realistic that it looks as though the artist has gathered foliage and used a collage technique to make the picture. However with much in common, both interested in illustrating everyday American life, the two became good friends and Rockwell would frequent many future birthday parties. Hyperallergic / (she wrote thus exactly in her later reflections). She did not however simply and truthfully depict it. WebMoses became one of Americas most-loved painters. [14][15] Initially she created simple compositions or copied existing images. The serious part of this message is assisted by the bright blood red used to paint the jackets and heads of the turkeys. Moses appeared on magazine covers, television, and in a documentary of her life. In 1927, Mr. Moses died, leaving Anna to run the farm with their son. Upon reflection in her final years, she said that the overarching feeling of her whole life was similar to the feeling she had after any productive hard working day, satisfied. A hugely popular American painter, her art laid the foundation for other artists painting in these styles such as Vestie Davis, Howard Finster, Bryan Pearce, and Fred Yates. WebSummer in the Valley, 1943. WebGrandma Moses Price Results 815 Results Grandma Moses ( 382) ( 3) Norman Rockwell ( 2) Bert Stern ( 2) Tom Levine ( 2) Frederick Franck ( 1) Andrew Wyeth ( 1) Cornell Capa ( 1) Koo Seong Youn ( 1) Georgia O'Keeffe ( 1) Maxfield Parrish ( 1) Nicolas De Stal ( 1) Clementine Hunter ( 1) Baker Furniture ( 1) Ugo Mulas ( 1 ( 1 Andy Warhol ( 1 ( 1 In 1955, she appeared on "See It Now" and was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow. She retired and moved to a daughter's home in 1936. The 100th birthday of Grandma Moses was a day of celebration for many. In the forefront, as so often in Moses' paintings, the main action is taking place; here there are figures engaged in various activities and the scene looks much like a child's play set up, there is a dolls' house and lots of toy horses. In the center is a depiction of the river itself, behind which is a lone-standing farmhouse and barn nestled among tree-covered hills. [7][8], Five of the ten children born to them survived infancy. "[1] In 1955, she appeared as a guest on See It Now, a television program hosted by Edward R. "Grandma Moses Artist Overview and Analysis". [2] The children's book Grandma Moses Story Book was published in 1961. Moses typically paints a very poetic and attractive horizon line, pulling the viewer in to explore and travel to places unknown (as much in mind as physically). VINCE fine arts/ephemera. 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