6 Works to Know by Grandma Moses

"A self-taught artist who didn't start painting until her late 70s, Moses created scenes of a bygone American era that were treasured by the public yet kept at a distance by the art establishment. In the 1,500-plus works that she painted, mostly between the late 1930s and her death in 1961, Moses fused her personal experiences with national history and created soothingly nostalgic views of America."

"Currently on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., is a major Moses retrospective that aims to elevate her distinctive place within American art. Curated by Leslie Umberger and Randall R. Griffey, it features 88 artworks (including a substantial 33 from the museum's collection) created between the late 1930s and the year of the artist's death at age 101, in 1961."

Grandma Moses began painting in her late 70s and produced over 1,500 works between the late 1930s and her death in 1961. Her self-taught, primitive style fused personal experience with national history to create soothingly nostalgic scenes of vanishing rural American life. Audiences embraced her as a matronly, salt-of-the-earth figure during periods of upheaval including World War II, the Cold War, and the civil rights era, and her popular fame outpaced acceptance by the art establishment. A major retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum presents 88 works, including 33 from the museum’s collection, and will travel to Crystal Bridges.

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