Grandma Moses was born in 1860 in New England. At age 12, she began working as a hired hand at a nearby farm. There she learned domestic skills such as candle-dipping, soap-making, and bread-baking. Later, her paintings would portray scenes from her work.
In 1887, she married another hired hand, Thomas Moses, and moved to Virginia. They had ten children, five of whom died in infancy. Grandma's husband died in 1927. She turned the farm over to one of her sons. When she became restless, Grandma took to painting. She was self-taught and her paintings were childlike but brought back nostalgia for those who saw them.
Grandma (still too young to be called "grandma") began to exhibit her paintings, along with her homemade jams, at county fairs and craft shows. "The preserves won prizes, but the pictures, as one newspaper put it, got the 'razzberry'."
In 1938, an New York art collector Louis Caldor saw one of Grandma Moses paintings in a drugstore. Thus, Grandma Moses was "discovered" at age 77. By age 80 she was hit! In the 1940's and 50's, Grandma's paintings were a welcomed break from World War II and the cold war.
Grandma began a commercial success. She became so big that the art world decided she wasn't to be taken seriously. Now, 60 years after her drugstore discover, Grandma Moses is at last gaining art-world recognition. Although the public always loved her, she is finally accepted everywhere. Thus, the "Grandma Moses in the 21st Century" is a retrospective of her work. Don't miss Grandma this time around!
