A beloved body of work

by in At the Museums dept, Palette News Arts Network/PNAN
“Halloween” 1955, oil on high-density fiberboard, by Grandma Moses, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2024.37.5, © Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY.

BENTONVILLE, AR (PNAN) – On view at Crystal Bridges Museum through March 29, 2027, “Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work” repositions Anna Mary Robertson (1860–1961) as a multidimensional force in American art, whose beloved painted recollections of rural life earned her a distinctive place in the post-World War II cultural imagination.

The exhibition brings together approximately 80 paintings, as well as embroideries, objects of ephemera, and photographic reproductions, revealing the ways she defied social norms and confirming her as a central figure in the story of American art. Her show also sheds new light on a beloved body of work, introduces Moses to younger generations, and examines the artist’s legacy in the context of America today.

“Bringing in the Maple Sugar” 1940 or earlier, oil on high-density fiberboard, by Grandma Moses, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2024.37.3, © Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY.

Furthermore in this exhibition, it reveals how Moses’ art fused creativity, labor, and memories from a century-long life. Moses spent the majority of her life in rural New York and Virginia working as a housekeeper, farmer, and mother, occasionally painting or embroidering in her spare time.

She was 80 years old in 1940 when she stepped tentatively into the limelight with her first solo exhibition. Dubbed “Grandma Moses” by the press, she became a media sensation, achieving a superstar celebrity that raised questions in her time and remains intriguing today. Moses wielded creativity, hope, and unity as tools for shaping a life that she would later reflect on as “a good day’s work.”