: Concluding a triumphal national tour at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Museum of Art, a major retrospective of the work of the
inimitable Grandma Moses has confirmed her enduring popularity
and drawn attention to the quality of her art as well as the
fascinating saga of her life. Guest curated by Jane Kallir of
Galerie St Etienne in New York, the 50-odd paintings and
half-dozen documentary panels offer an opportunity to assess
Moses's approach to creating art, examine the original artwork
itself and explore her place in the context of modern art
history.
The premise of the show, says Kallir, was to take a "fresh look"
at an artist whose work is so familiar that we do not examine it
closely enough anymore. The preeminent Moses authority also feels
that the artist's enormous popularity and the commercialization
of her art made her a popular culture figure and diminished her
stature as a painter. This contributed to her being given short
shrift by art museums. Now, removed from all the publicity and
her public persona, we can look objectively at her art. Moses,
argues Kallir, is "ripe for reexamination."
A genuine Twentieth Century phenomenon, Anna Mary Robertson Moses
(1860-1961) was a farmer's widow who took up painting in her 70s
and, fortuitously, came to national attention a few years later.
The mixture of her homespun personality, long life, charming
evocations of rural life and national interest in folk art
catapulted the lady who became known as Grandma Moses to acclaim
and fame. A darling of the news media, honored by presidents and
art critics, and collected by varied institutions and
individuals, Moses was welcomed into millions of American homes
via radio, television and reproductions of her work.
