Living Well 60+ September-October 2014 | Page 23

SEPT/OCT 2014 Late-Life Success: Grandma Moses Folk artist is consummate example of starting a new career at advanced age by Angela S. Hoover, Staff Writer Renowned American folk artist Grandma Moses is one of the most noted and oft-cited examples of someone embarking on new career at an advanced age. Yet, unlike other late-life success stories, Anna Mary Robertson Moses didn’t plan to start a new career. Born Sept. 7, 1860 in Greenwich, N.Y., Moses grew up in a rural farm community with sporadic education. As a child, she drew pictures and colored them with berry and grape juices. At age 12, she left her parent’s farm to work as a hired girl until she married Thomas Moses in 1887. The two farmed in the Shenandoah Valley near Staunton, Va., until 1905, when they moved to a farm at Eagle Bridge, N.Y., not far from her birthplace. Thomas died in 1927 and Moses continued farming until 1936. Moses tried doing worsted embroidery but arthritis made it too difficult, so she switched to painting at age 76. Initially, she copied illustrated postcards and Currier and Ives prints. Later she began recreating scenes from her childhood. She gave her early paintings away or sold them for $2 to $5. 23 In 1939, Louis Caldor, an engineer and art collector, was impressed by several of her paintings he saw hanging in a drugstore window in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. He bought them, then went to her farm and bought her remaining paintings. In October of that year, three of the paintings were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in a show titled “Contemporary, Unknown Painters.” Moses’ paintings immediately garnered favorable criticism. Art historians labeled her painting style American Primitive, described as naïve yet acclaimed for its purity of color, attention to detail and vigor. Throughout her life, Moses produced more than 1,600 paintings. In November 2006, her 1943 painting “Sugaring Off” sold for $1.2 million. In October 1940, Moses had a one-woman show of 35 paintings under the name Mrs. Moses at Galerie St. Etienne in New York. The press dubbed her Grandma Moses and the nickname stuck. Grandma Moses exhibitions were so popular they broke attendance records all over the world. From 1946, her LSG paintings were reproduced in prints and on Christmas cards, as well as curtains, dresses, cookie jars and dinner ware. They were used to sell cigarettes, cameras, lipstick and instant coffee. Moses’ paintings were shown throughout the United States and Europe in about 150 solo shows and 100 group exhibits. In 1949, President Harry Truman presented her with the Women’s National Press Club Trophy Award for outstanding accomplishment in art. In 1950 the National Press Club cited her as one of the five most newsworthy women, and the National Association of House Dress Manufacturers named her their 1951 Woman of the Year. Moore College of Art in Philadelphia awarded her its first honorary doctorate degree. Mademoiselle magazine named Grandma Moses “Young Woman of the Year” when she was 88. A little more than a year and a half after being featured on the cover of Life magazine, Robertson died at the age of 101. A U.S. commemorative stamp was issued in her honor in 1969. SPENCER FREE CONSULTATION Fee Deducted From Settlement Hablamos Español LAW GROUP Kelly P. Spencer & Associates 252-HELP (4357) • 1.800.980.0207 535 Wellington Way / 3rd Floor • www.kellyspencerlaw.com THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT