A Tribute to Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses has been gone for more than 45 years now, but I still remember her from watching interviews and reading the many articles written about her, and even reading her own autobiography. I remember seeing her work in magazines, books, and on Christmas cards, and even on fabric. Grandma Moses fascinated me, and like many others of my generation, she was both a hero and an inspiration to me, and I thought of her as a member of my own family.

Anna Mary Robertson was born in Greenwich, New York in 1860. She had very little formal education since she could only attend the one-room school in the summer months because she had no warm clothes. She left home at the age of twelve to work for the next fifteen years as a hired girl on another farm. At the age of 27, she married Thomas Salmon Moses, a hired hand on the farm where she was doing housework.

On their way back from their wedding trip to South Carolina, she and her new husband invested their savings to rent a farm near Staunton, Virginia. They remained there for the next twenty years. Ten children were born there, but five died either during or shortly after birth. Farm life then was physically harder and much more uncertain than it is today, and Anna made butter and potato chips to sell to the neighbors to supplement the family's income.

Eventually, Anna and Thomas returned to New York state and began farming at Eagle Bridge, where Thomas died in 1927. Anna was now seventy-six years old, but continued to work the farm with the help of one of her sons for a few years more until arthritis in her hands made it impossible for her to continue.

Anna found it difficult to slow down. She had created needlework pictures in her spare time, and as a child had made paintings by squeezing lemon and grape juice for colors. But the arthritis in her hands made it too difficult to hold a sewing needle. Still, she needed something to keep herself busy. A sister suggested that she turn to painting.

At first, Anna painted copies from Currier and Ives prints and post cards. But soon she began composing her own paintings based on her memories of farm life. And even though her life had been anything but easy, she chose to portray her memories with love and tenderness. She captured the changing of seasons, sometimes using glitter in her snow scenes, and created detailed pictures of such everyday activities as sleigh rides and making maple sugar.

In 1938, an art collector noticed a few of Anna's paintings in a drug store in Hoosick Falls. He bought all those paintings and the next day, bought all the paintings Anna still had back at the farm. In 1939, three of her paintings were exhibited in a show at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and by 1943 there was an almost overwhelming demand for her art.

Anna never seemed comfortable with her fame, and always seemed puzzled by the great fuss everyone seemed to make over her. She was uninterested in money, selling her paintings from her home for fifty dollars or less, and becoming visibly angry when she found out that a gallery owner was charging as much as $350 for her work.

Anna became famous as Grandma Moses, and became an early media darling. She was interviewed in magazines and newspapers, who carefully recorded her simple, down-to-earth bits of wisdom and observations about her life and the world. She never overcame her innate humility, and the many interviews she granted showed her to be a woman of great grace and down-home wisdom coupled with a mischievous wit. And she retained that resolute spirit that had carried her through a long and difficult life right up to the end. When she passed away on December 13, 1961, at the age of 101, the nation mourned the loss of its grandmother. She had become a symbol of the country's pioneer heritage and the quiet spirit that had overcome adversity and still maintained its dignity and optimism. She also reminded everyone that old age did not mean the end of a productive life.

I never got to meet Grandma Moses in person. But I was fortunate to have two loving, talented grandmothers and a wonderful great-grandmother of my own, remarkable women very much like Grandma Moses. They, too, came from rural backgrounds, worked hard all their lives to nurture and support their families, and still maintained their optimistic, good-humored outlooks on life. I will always remember Grandma Moses. May her wonderful spirit live forever.

Sources and On-Line Images:

http://wwar.com/masters/m/moses‑grandma.html
http://www.gseart.com/exh/exh_invt.asp?ExhID=480
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0907.html