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Grandma Moses Saw the Landscape

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Grandma Moses Saw the Landscape The way Grandma Moses saw the landscape Grandma Moses was inspired by nature and the landscape she saw when she looked outside. This interest in the natural world is apparent in her artwork! Let’s learn more about the artist... Grandma Moses Full name: Anna Mary Robertson Moses Born: September 7, 1860 Died: December 13, 1961 Grandma Moses wasn’t always a grandma. She was born Anna Mary Robertson on a farm in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860. She was the third of 10 kids - there were 5 boys and 5 girls in her family. Anna had a happy childhood playing outside and enjoying nature. She was always creative and as a young girl, she made her own paper dolls and she like to draw “lambscapes” (that’s how she thought you said landscapes). She remembered her father used to buy her and her siblings drawing paper for a penny a sheet. She said her father loved to watch the kids as they would draw. When she was only 12 years old, she left home to work for a family on a nearby farm. She helped with chores and cooking, and watched after the family’s small children. Later, she fell in love and had a family of her own. Her life was full of hard work balanced with great appreciation for the little everyday joys in life. She stored everything in her memories, and later she came back to those images in her mind to use as inspiration for her art. Anna never thought she’d be an artist, but when she was in her 70s, her husband passed away and she found she needed something to keep herself busy and take her mind off of her sadness. Her daughter suggested she might like to create a “painting” by sewing a scene with yarn onto a blank piece of fabric. (She’d seen something similar in a store and thought her mom could make one even prettier. And she did! Grandma Moses made many worsted pictures this way until her hands had trouble keeping up. That’s when she switched to painting. Handling brushes and paint was easier and she really enjoyed it! She was amazed and surprised when her art became famous... she saw painting as something anyone could do. But Grandma Mose’ art was something special. She had a unique style that people really loved because her art reminded them of their childhoods and made them feel nostalgic and happy. Grandma Moses 1 Let’s explore a painting... As you look at this painting, begin to get curious and ask yourself questions that will help you to understand the art. What do you see here? What kind of story is the artist telling us? What do you notice about the landscape? What is the mood of this piece? How can we describe this artist’s painting style? What do you notice about the composition- or the way the people and objects are arranged? What more can we find? Grandma Moses, Sugaring Off, 1955 Grandma Moses 2 Let’s learn more about this painting... Sugaring Off art analysis You probably had some really great observations about what was going on in the painting, but unless you live on a farm, the activities in this painting might be a mystery to you! Some people are shown collect- ing sap from the maple trees. Some people are carrying buck- ets of sap from the trees to the fires. Other people are boiling the sap until it thickens into a syrup or crystallizes into a sugar. Some kids are helping and some Some artists study in schools or with private tutors to learn kids are enjoying a fun day play- their craft. Others teach themselves... like Grandma Moses ing in the snow. did. These artists are sometimes called Naive or Primitive artists.(Grandma Moses did not like these terms at all!) The Some of them are pouring hot style of art Grandma Moses made is called Folk Art. maple syrup in the snow to make a treat. (That’s called sugaring Her art was discovered one day by an art collector who saw off!) her display in the window of a local drugstore. He recognized that her art was special and made it his mission to bring it to Winter work and play was a the world. The next year, her art was included in an exhibit of favorite theme that Grandma unknown artists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York! Moses revisited in her art time and time again. Grandma Moses 3 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. GRANDMA MOSES Grandma Moses 4 Now it’s your turn to paint a landscape memory! Grandma Moses spent time carefully observing the land- scape and the things she saw outside in nature. But she rarely painted there. She relied on her memories to guide the art she created... and you can too! Consider this: Some things to consider as First, choose the place that you’ll feature in your landscape you make your art... painting. Is it a place you’ve been in real life? Or maybe it’s a place you’ve only seen in photos or in a movie. This place doesn’t even need to be real- you might paint something Grandma Moses said, “I paint from from fiction that you’ve read. And it doesn’t have to be the the top down. From the sky, then the mountains, then the hills, then the way this place looks today. You can paint ancient times (or houses, then the cattle, and then the even what you imagine your place will look like in the future!) people.” You might want to make a quick sketch first, or you might Even if this isn’t the way you usually choose to dive right in to your painting. Let your memories approach your art, it might be fun to or your imagination guide you as you explore all of the try creating your painting using the various elements of the landscape- the sky, the land, and same sequence Grandma Moses the things that are happening on the land (and in the sky). used. Start at the top and paint the sky. What is the weather like? What time of year is it? What time of day? How is the lighting? Next move down to the mountains or hills or whatever is in the middle of your landscape. Are these things close up or are they way off in the distance. Finally, come into the foreground with the details and the animals and people that are closes to us as we look at this landscape. How busy (or quiet) is your scene? Is there some kind of activity happening? What is it? Grandma Moses 5.
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