21 facts about Grandma Moses

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), known by her nickname Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is often cited as an example of an individual who successfully began a career in the arts at an innovative age. Her works have been shown and sold in the United States and abroad and have been marketed upon greeting cards and further merchandise. Moses’ paintings are displayed in the collections of many museums. Sugaring Off was sold for US$1.2 million in 2006.

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Moses appeared upon magazine covers, television, and in a documentary of her life. She wrote an autobiography (My Life’s History), won numerous awards, and was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees.

The New York Times said of her: “The easy realism, nostalgic proclaim and vivid color subsequently which Grandma Moses portrayed simple farm enthusiasm and rural countryside won her a wide following. She was accomplished to appropriate the ruckus of winter’s first snow, Thanksgiving preparations and the new, young green of oncoming spring… In person, Grandma Moses charmed wherever she went. A tiny, lively girl with mischievous gray eyes and a Fast wit, she could be sharp-tongued later a sycophant and stern in imitation of an errant grandchild.”

She was a live-in housekeeper for a sum of 15 years, starting at 12 years of age. One of her employers noticed her recognition for their prints made by Currier and Ives, and they supplied her afterward art materials to create drawings. Moses and her husband began their married vivaciousness in Virginia, where they worked upon farms. In 1905, they returned to the Northeastern United States and approved in Eagle Bridge, New York. The couple had ten children, five of whom survived infancy. She expressed an immersion in art throughout her life, including embroidery of pictures taking into consideration yarn, until arthritis made this leisure interest too painful.

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