If there’s anything as American as “Mom and apple pie”, it’s the legacy of Grandma Moses. Her life and art made her an iconic figure of 20th Century Americana.
The following are a few of her memorable quotatons:
“I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene.”
TIME magazine, Vol. 52 (1948)
“I’ll get an inspiration and start painting; then I’ll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live.”
From her obituary in The New York Times, 14 December 1961 issue.
“Painting’s not important. The important thing is keeping busy.”
New Leaves (1986) by Louise Matteoni
“I paint from the top down. From the sky, then the mountains, then the hills, then the houses, then the cattle, and then the people.”
Tampa Bay Magazine (January/February 2008), p. 205
“A primitive artist is an amateur whose work sells.”
Grandma Moses, American Primitive : Forty Paintings (1947) by Otto Kallir
“If I hadn’t started painting, I would have raised chickens.”
Grandma Moses, American Primitive : Forty Paintings (1947) by Otto Kallir
Grandma Moses started her painting career at the age of 78.
She was a descendant of Francis Cooke (1583 – 1663). He was a co-signer of the Mayflower Compact.
A descendant of Mayflower Compact co-signer Stephen Hopkins (1581 – 1644), iconic American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell and Anna enjoyed a friendship both as fellow artists and neighbors. They resided within proximity of one another across from the New York-Vermont border.
Related ancestral blog articles
Anna Mary ‘Grandma Moses’ Robertson
Birth September 7, 1860 in Greenwich, New York
Death December 13, 1961 in Hoosick Falls, New York
Ancestry.com citation/Lineages
7th cousin 6x removed KING-REED-COOKE-BARTLETT-SPRAGUE-TRIPP-OUTWATER-COLLINS
21st cousin 8x removed KING-REED-THOMPSON-COOKE-FITZWILLIAM-GREEN-LA ZOUCHE-PORHOET-ROHAN-LANDRY-BOURG-CYR-BRULE
23rd cousin 4x removed KING-REED-THOMPSON-COOKE-SAUNDERS-SPENCER-HARCOURT-HOLLAND-SIMMONS-COLLINS
SOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grandma Moses’ autobiography
* * *
Grandma Moses
Grandma Moses: An American Original
Grandma Moses: Painter of Rural America
The Year with Grandma Moses
Barefoot in the Grass: The Story of Grandma Moses
Designs on the Heart: The Homemade Art of Grandma Moses
The Grandma Moses Storybook For Boys and Girls
The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$5.95
Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist