Grandma Mosses (1860-1961) became famous as a painter when she held her first exhibition at the age of 78. She was then “discovered” by collector, Louis J. Calder, and became internationally known as a modern” primitive: a self-taught naïve painter.
Anna Mary Robertson was born in Greenwich, New York, of Scottish-Irish descent. At the age of 58 she decided to start painting and chose scenes from her childhood, which she presented in bright, uncomplicated colours and peopled with her memories.
In 1940, when she was 80, she had her first solo exhibition in New York and nine years later was received at the White House by President Truman. In 1960 Governor Rockefeller proclaimed her birthday, September 7, as Grandma Moses Day in New York State.
Her works were reproduced don Christmas cards, calendars and birthday cards and became immensely popular because of their simplicity and directness and the faithfullness and love with which they recorded humble scenes now vanished from the American way of life.
Picture Credit : Google
