Black Horses

Copied Grandma Moses, Black Horses, 1942, oil on high-density fiberboard, 24 3⁄8 × 28 5⁄8 × 2 in. (61.9 × 72.7 × 5.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2024.37.4, © Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY

Artwork Details

Title
Black Horses
Artist
Date
1942
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
24 3⁄8 × 28 5⁄8 × 2 in. (61.9 × 72.7 × 5.1 cm)
Copyright
© Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on high-density fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Landscape
  • Recreation — sport and play — equestrian
Object Number
2024.37.4
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2024.37.4

Artwork Description

In Black Horses, Moses depicts a bit of Cambridge Valley oral history. The painting recalls a tale about her great-grandfather, Archibald Robertson, who served as a lookout during the Revolutionary War. While working his fields one day in 1777, he spied the British army approaching. Robertson then "unhitch[ed] his horses from the plow, turning one loose, and rode the other down through Coila, warning all that the British were coming," Moses explained. According to the legend, one of the horses was killed in the ensuing battle.  Though the painting is not overtly historical, the accompanying story reveals Moses's innate understanding of the places she knew as sites of ancestry and history.

 Exhibition Label for Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work October 24, 2025 -- July 12, 2026