Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation, opens Saturday at the Hunter Museum of American Art. The exhibition is a retrospective on the life and work of the popular American folk artist Anna Mary Robertson, Grandma Moses (1860-1961).
Paintings, personal items and quotes from Grandma herself help explain the legacy of her
work. The exhibit will be at the Hunter through Aug. 12.
This new exhibition places the art of Grandma Moses in the historical context of the country's transition from the Great Depression and World War II to the rising prosperity of the 1950s, when she rose to an international celebrity. Personal objects on loan from the Bennington Museum include brushes, paint, an apron and rocking chair. These are
shown along with her artwork to offer a perspective often overlooked in traditional Grandma Moses exhibits. For example, china plates and fabric based on Moses' paintings show how her immensely popular images were translated into products in an increasingly consumer-driven age.
Anna Mary Robertson was born in Greenwich, N.Y., in 1860. She and her husband Thomas Salmon Moses raised their children in Virginia but eventually settled in Eagle Bridge, N.Y., in 1905. In 1930, three years after the death of her husband, Moses began painting and making embroidered pictures. Local exhibitions of her work soon gained mass appeal and by 1940 she was exhibiting her work in New York City. Grandma
Moses achieved great success with her folk art and became a media celebrity featured on radio and television. Her popular artwork made her one of the most famous artists in America. Moses died in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. She was 101 years old.
Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation explores the discovery of Moses' paintings in 1938 and her rise to fame during the turbulent 1940s and 1950s, when she and her art represented American values during World War II and the ensuing Cold War. The exhibition examines sources of her themes, her broad popular appeal, her unique artistic style, and her elevation to the status of a timeless American icon.
Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation was curated by Lee Kogan, Curator of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, and Karal Ann Marling, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
The exhibition is presented locally by EMJ Corporation.
Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation is funded in part by The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal grant-making agency; New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and the National Endowment for the Arts. This exhibition was organized by the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York.