Artwork Details
- Title
- Turkeys
- Artist
- Date
- 1958
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 16 × 24 in. (40.6 × 61.0 cm)
- Copyright
- © Grandma Moses Properties Co., New York
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Kallir Family in memory of Otto Kallir
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on high-density fiberboard
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Landscape — road
- Landscape — season — winter
- Landscape — weather — snow
- Landscape — town
- Animal — bird — turkey
- Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
- Object — tool — axe
- Figure group
- Object Number
- 2017.34.1
Artwork Description
"The very first Thanksgiving I remember was about the year of 1864," Moses recalled. While the celebration of the land's bounty was by then an old tradition, President Lincoln had only proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday the year before.
In Turkeys, Moses depicts the annual ritual of catching the Thanksgiving bird. The ominous tones of an icy November sky and frozen ground contrast delightfully with the bright colors worn by fowl and children alike. Moses was a close observer of the animals on and around her farm--including the wild turkeys that Benjamin Franklin had called "a true original of North America." And while she was no stranger to the harsher side of putting food on the table, she pitied the turkeys on this fateful day. "Poor turkey," she bemoaned. "He has but one life to give to his country."
Exhibition Label for Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work October 24, 2025 -- July 12, 2026