Grandma Moses (American, 1860-1961) A Winter Day (The Old Bridge, Richmond, Vermont)

Exhibited

"An American View: The Hosek Collection of American Art," Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, August 22 - December 20, 2009.

"An American View Revisited: The Hosek Collection of American Art," Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, November 17, 2018 - May 11, 2019.

Note

Born Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known by her nickname Grandma Moses, was born in Virginia a year before the start of the Civil War, and spent most of her life on farms there. She turned to painting late in her life, after arthritis prevented her from continuing her embroidered work. The present work is a quintessential example of the artist's work, as it illustrates one of her many childhood memories in snowy Virginia, where she used to sled with her friends on the nearby rolling hills. The juxtaposition of bold, almost saturated colors recalls the color blocking of her embroidery, while the overall flatness and nostalgia channel much of the Folk Art movement, although the artist herself refused to be considered an American primitive.

The present work is listed among the records of Galerie St. Etienne, New York, New York, and will be given the number 1591 when including in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's work. We wish to thank the Kallir Research Institute for their assistance in cataloging this lot. Image Copyright Grandma Moses Properties Co., New York.

Provenance

"American Paintings and Sculpture," Butterfields, San Francisco, November 13, 1991, lot 2691.

Acquired directly from the above sale by the present owner.