Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work
Grandma Moses, We Are Resting, 1951, oil on high-density fiberboard, overall: 24 × 30 in. (61 × 76.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Kallir Family, in Memory of Hildegard Bachert, 2019.55, © Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY
Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work sheds new light on a beloved body of work by Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses (1860 – 1961). Grandma Moses used creativity, hope, and togetherness as tools for shaping a life that she metaphorically likened to “a good day’s work.” The artist’s fame made her a polarizing figure — beloved by the popular press and American public but belittled by the art world and critical press. This exhibition introduces the artist to new generations and examines her legacy in the context of America today.
Description
Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work repositions Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses (1860–1961) as a multidimensional force in American art, whose beloved painted recollections of rural life earned her a distinctive place in the cultural imagination of the postwar era. Drawing its name from Moses’ reflection on her own life as a “good day’s work,” the exhibition reveals how Moses’ art fused creativity, labor, and memories from a century-long life.
Moses began painting in earnest in her late 70s and was 80 when gallerist Otto Kallir introduced her to the American public with her first solo exhibition in 1940. In her artworks, Moses melded direct observation of nature and personal memories, resulting in idiosyncratic, yet engaging, stories of America. “Grandma Moses” as the press would indelibly dub her, quickly became a media sensation, achieving a controversial celebrity status that surpassed the female artists of her day and remains compelling today.
The exhibition is the culmination of a special collection initiative at the museum that began in 2016. The exhibition is anchored by thirty-three artworks from SAAM’s collection, including many of Moses’ most celebrated paintings. It is organized by Leslie Umberger, senior curator of folk and self-taught art, and Randall R. Griffey, former head curator, with support from Maria R. Eipert, curatorial assistant.
A richly illustrated catalogue, published in association with Princeton University Press, is available for purchase ($60) in the museum's store and online.
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Credit
Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Major support is provided by the Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr. American Folk Art Fund. Generous support is provided by Bobbi and Ralph Terkowitz. Additional support is provided by Billings and John Cay, Josh Feldstein and Mischa Feldstein, William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund, Margery and Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund, Robert Pender, Charles Robertson Exhibitions Endowment, and Share Fund.
Educational programming support is provided in part by Douglas O. Robson.
This project received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.