Grandma Moses comes to the Crocker Art Museum

Sunday, 29 July 2007 13:09

Sacramento, Calif. – Distinguished by nostalgic scenes of rural and family life, the works of Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma) Moses (1860-1961) have captured the hearts and imaginations of Americans for decades. A career-spanning exhibition of her art will make its one and only stop on the West Coast at the Crocker Art Museum in Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation, opening September 8, until 6 January, 2008.

Featuring 40 of her instantly-recognizable paintings, this exhibition examines Moses’ rise from a little-known painter to a world-renowned artist during a period of significant change for the nation. Having painted throughout the years of America’s transition from the Great Depression to post-World War II prosperity, Moses’ works incarnate the ideals and dreams that kept the nation going during those difficult times. Offering a new perspective on the artist, the show includes some of her personal objects in addition to the consumer products Moses’ celebrity spawned.

"Grandma Moses’ paintings reflect our society’s desire for the life of simpler times," said Museum Director Lial Jones. "Her ability to capture the nation’s dreams has made her an icon."

Picking up painting at the late age of 76, Moses dedicated herself to the craft creating more than 1,500 paintings by the age of 101. Her paintings might have remained only locally known were it not for a vacationing New York gallery owner who happened across her work and paved the way for her to become a national celebrity.

Moses’ immense emotional appeal, both for her art and personality, reveals much about the profound change in identity Americans experienced following at mid-century. Her unlikely rise to fame and dedication to her artistic creation encapsulates a part of the American dream that resonates in us all.

Moses began painting in her seventies after abandoning a career in embroidery because of arthritis. Louis J. Caldor, a collector discovered her paintings in a Hoosick Falls drugstore window in 1938. In 1939 an art dealer Otto Kallir exhibited some of her work in his Galerie Saint-Etienne in New York. This brought her to the attention of art collectors all over the world, and her paintings were highly sought after.

This exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Council for the Humanities.

Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation was curated by Lee Kogan, Curator of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, and Karal Ann Marling, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. We also acknowledge the ongoing scholarship of Jane Kallir, Director of the Galerie St. Etienne in New York. Grandma Moses painted mostly scenes of rural life. Some of her many paintings were used on the covers of Hallmark cards.

The Crocker Art Museum was founded in 1885 and continues as the leading art institution for the California Capital Region and Central Valley. The Museum offers a diverse spectrum of special exhibitions, events and programs to augment its collections of California, European and Asian artworks. The Crocker is located at 216 O Street in downtown Sacramento. Museum hours are 10 AM–5 PM, Tuesday–Sunday; Thursday until 9 PM. Free admission on Sundays from 10 AM-1 PM. For more information on exhibits and events call (916) 264-5423 or visit www.crockerartmuseum.org .