Grandma Moses
FameRank: 6

"Anna Mary Robertson Moses", better known by her nickname of ""Grandma Moses,"" was a renowned United States/American folk artist. Having begun painting in earnest at the age of 78, she is often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age. Her works have been shown and sold in the United States and abroad and have been marketed on greeting cards and other merchandise. Moses' paintings are among the collections of many museums. The Sugaring Off was sold for US$1.2 million in 2006.

Moses has appeared on magazine covers, television, and in a documentary of her life. She wrote an autobiography of her life, won numerous awards and was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees.

The New York Times said of her: "The simple realism, nostalgic atmosphere and luminous color with which Grandma Moses portrayed homely farm life and rural countryside won her a wide following. She was able to capture the excitement of winter's first snow, Thanksgiving preparations and the new, young green of oncoming spring... In person, Grandma Moses charmed wherever she went. A tiny, lively woman with mischievous gray eyes and a quick wit, she could be sharp-tongued with a sycophant and stern with an errant grandchild. "

More Grandma Moses on Wikipedia.

Painting's not important. The important thing is keeping busy.

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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.

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. . . daydreams, as it were . . . 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.

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I look back on my life a good day's work, it was done and I am satisfied with it.

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A primitive artist is an amateur whose work sells.

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What a strange thing is memory, and hope; one looks backward, the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day.

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If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens.

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I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little yesterday . . . I look back on my life a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I made the best out of what life offered.

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