Anna Mary Robertson
(Grandma Moses)
 Anna Mary Roberts, known as Grandma Moses, was born in 1860 and died in 1961. She is classified as a folk artist or naive artist, because she never recieved formal training in art. She did, however, inherit many gifts from her family which enabled her to become the artist she was. Her father was a farmer-inventor, and a believer in refinement and beauty. From her grandfather she learned thrift and from her grandmother, generosity. Anna Mary was the original "use it up, make it do, or do without" kind of woman. Anna Mary was one of ten children and had many chores on their farm in upstate New York. As a treat, her father would bring the children newsprint to draw on. Anna Mary colored her pictures with fruit juice and bluing from indigo. At the age of twelve, she left home to become the hired girl to an elderly couple named Whiteides. She sewed, cooked, gardened, washed and ironed clothes, and churned butter. During this time, she studied the Currier and Ives prints that Mr. Whitesides received free from the paper mill. Her favorite pictures were the ones that reminded her of home. She copied the pictures and painted them her way with bright skies.
In 1886, she went to the James' home as a hired girl. There she met her husband-to-be, Thomsa Moses, also hired help. They married within the year. At this time they moved to a small farm in Virginia. She made butter and sold it for 20 cents a pound, the going rate for local butter was 8 cents. Anna Mary made a good business in butter, churning out 160 lbs. per week.
The Moses had 10 children, with only five surviving. They named their farm Mt. Nebo, which is where Moses saw the promised land. In 1903, she went into the potato chip business, making them by the barrel for three stores. She couldn't bear the thought of sitting down and letting Thomas hand out money, as she was an independent woman. In 1907, the family decided to move back north and settle in Eagle Bridge, New York near her birthplace. In 1920,as Anna Mary was papering the parlor, she ran short of paper for the fireboard (the screen for the fireplace). She pasted plain paper to the board and painted it ot match. Technically speaking this was her first painting, and today it hangs in the Bennington Museum.
Anna Mary started painting small pieces for gifts, but in 1927, her husband died and she found herself with time on her hands. She began what she called her "worst" pictures, crewel pictures embroidery in wool. Arthritis made it difficult, so she turned to the brush again. She sold her first paintings with some canned goods to add to the sale. These paintings, when she was 70, were done with house paints and regular brushes. She used toothpicks and matches to render small figures, and for every fine details she used a straight pin. As a result, many of her paintings are very crude. She dropped any suggestion of modeling or shading in her work, and eliminated details. She made simply outline drawings then filled in the spaces with simple strokes of paint. She painted on a flat table, not an easel, but on masonite. The first thing she did was find a frame then cut the masonite to fit it. She would prepare the surface with linseed oil and then three coats of white flat paint. She loved bright colors, especially red and lots of activity.
When asked what kind of pictures she liked best, she replied, "pretty things, old timey things, historical landmarks," and many from memory. Anna Mary's paintings have become universally loved. Her down home personality complimented her homespun paintings and she became the journalist darling. At the age of 101 she had painted more than 2000 paintings.
|
