Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses€¦ · A Pattern is created when shapes, lines and...
Transcript of Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses€¦ · A Pattern is created when shapes, lines and...
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses
Anna was born in 1860, just before the American Civil War,
and grew up in a large family on a farm in New York. Although her
family was very poor, as a child, Anna enjoyed making her own paper
dolls from newspaper and fabric scraps. Inspired by her father, who
painted landscape murals in their living room; she loved to paint, but
never had time because of all her chores on the farm. When she was
12 years old, her parents hired her out to work for another family,
doing all the cooking, gardening, washing, and ironing. She didn’t
have much time for school either, but when she did, her favorite
subject was drawing maps. She married Thomas Moses when she
was 27 years old and ran a farm with her husband and 5 children. She
was very resourceful and made her own butter from the milk of a
cow she bought to help support her family income.
Later, after all her children were grown up, and her husband
passed away, her daughter inspired her to embroider and paint to
keep herself busy. She was in her 70s when she taught herself to
paint with oils on wood boards. She wanted to paint scenes that
were pleasing, cheerful, bright and with lots of activity. Being the
resourceful woman she was, she used cheap paints and toothpicks
for the fine details.
At 78 years old, she tried to sell her paintings at a local drug
store, but they just sat behind the window for about a year. Finally,
one day, her paintings were discovered by an art collector! He bought
them all, took them to his gallery and displayed them in her first
show called, “What a Farm Wife Painted”. Viewers fell in love with
the charm, honesty and simplicity of happier times. They felt that
they knew her from her paintings and nicknamed her “Grandma
Moses”.
In 1940, master artists like Picasso and Kandinsky believed
that self-taught artists, called folk artists, were purer and more
original than trained artists. This way of thinking elevated Moses’
artwork to become important and valuable. Her greatest success
came when she hired someone to sell her artwork. Hallmark
contracted her to make Thanksgiving Day cards, which launched her
into mass reproduction posters, books, china plates and drapery
fabric. Americans were fascinated by her “rags to riches” story. Many
elderly people were inspired by her and concluded that it’s never too
late to start a new career. She continued to paint until she died in
1961 at 101 years old.
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses
Materials Needed:
Drawing paper, colored pencils and/or crayons, pencil & eraser
Elements of Art:
1. A Pattern is created when shapes, lines and colors repeat
consistently.
2. Texture is created when shapes, lines and colors repeat and
give the illusion that you can feel it. 3. Movement is the result of shapes, lines, and colors being
repeated in a diagonal pattern that creates the feeling that
objects are moving.
Look at “Checkered House, 1943” and “Taking in the Laundry”,
1951.
From the 18th to 19th Century, The Checkered House was a
stagecoach inn where drivers stayed to change out their horses. It
served as a field hospital and military headquarters during the
Revolutionary War. The checkerboard pattern caused it to become a
memorable landmark even after it burned down in 1907. Grandma
Moses painted a variety of compositions of the Checkered House.
This painting originally sold for $10 in the 1940s and was recently
appraised for over $60,000.
Q: What kinds of activities are happening in these two
paintings? (People are riding on horses and in carriages, a
woman is washing the laundry, people are helping to hang it
on a windy, rainy day, a boy is carrying water pails.)
Art Analysis
1. Find Patterns: What shapes, lines & colors are repeating?
(Checkers on house, stalks of hay, tree branches, leaves on
trees, trees, laundry)
2. Find Texture: Where do you see texture? What kinds of lines,
shapes and colors are used? (rain, leaves on the trees, wood
siding on the house)
3. Find Movement: Can you find an object that appears to be
moving? Do you see the diagonal pattern? (The rain, swaying
trees and laundry)
Practice:
Draw a swaying tree in the rain to practice creating texture and
movement.
1. If needed, practice copying the tree bark, leaves, grass and
rain texture on a scrap paper.
2. Trace or copy the tree template, or draw a tree from a
photograph or life onto drawing paper.
3. With a variety of colors (browns, yellow, orange, red), begin
by drawing the trunk and branches of a swaying tree, blown
by the wind. DO NOT SHADE OR COLOR IN. Use only line and
shapes to create the appearance of bark texture.
4. Add clusters of small leaves and grass on the ground in a
variety of colors (green, yellow).
5. Use cool colors (blue, purple, and turquoise) to draw the rain
in the background.
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Checkered House, 1943, Grandma Moses
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Taking in the Laundry, 1951, Grandma Moses
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses - Art Practice Instructions
If needed, practice copying the tree bark, leaves, grass and rain texture on a scrap paper. DO NOT SHADE OR COLOR IN. Use lines and shapes to
create the illusion of texture. Use greens and yellows for grass and leaves. Use browns and yellows for bark. Use blues and purples for rain.
1. Trace or copy the tree
template, or draw a tree
from a photograph or real
life onto drawing paper.
2. Use browns and yellows to
create the appearance of bark
texture.
3. Add clusters of small leaves
and grass on the ground with
greens and yellows.
4. Use cool colors (blue, purple,
and turquoise) to draw the
rain in the background.
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017