Monday, September 7, 2015

September 7th is Grandma Moses Day

Happy Birthday to Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses who was born on September 7, 1860.   Each year on September 7, people across America join together to celebrate the anniversary of her birth with National Grandma Moses Day.

A renowned American folk artist, Grandma Moses first started painting in her 70′s.  

Known to her family and friends as “Mother Moses” or “Grandma Moses” and actually she first exhibited using the name “Mrs. Moses”, the press eagerly dubbed her “Grandma Moses”, which stuck and stayed with her.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961) is an example to us all of an individual who successfully began a career in the arts at an advanced age.

Grandma Moses’ 100th birthday celebration included her being featured on the September 16, 1960 cover of LIFE magazine.

Many of Grandma Moses’ paintings were used to publicize American holidays, some of which included Thanksgiving, Christmas and Mother’s Day.  In a Mother’s Day feature in a 1947 True Confessions, it was noted how “Grandma Moses remains prouder of her preserves than of her paintings and proudest of all of her four children, eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren”. 

Grandma Moses’ exhibitions were so popular during the 1950′s that they broke attendance records all over the world.  

“A cultural icon, the spry, productive nonagenarian was continually cited as an inspiration for housewives, widows and retirees. Her images of America’s rural past were transferred to curtains, dresses, cookie jars, and dinner ware, and used to pitch cigarettes, cameras, lipstick and instant coffee.”

1950 – Cited as one of the five most newsworthy women.
1951 – Honored as Woman of the Year by the National Association of House Dress Manufacturers.
Age 88 – Mademoiselle Magazine named her “Young Woman of the Year”
Awarded the first honorary doctorate degree from Philadelphia’s Moore College of Art.
1969 – An United States commemorative stamp was issued in her honor.
2006 – Her work Sugaring Off (1943) became her highest selling work at US $1.2 million.  Sugaring Off was a clear example of the simple rural scenes for which she was well-known.
Grandma Moses’ painting, Fourth of July, was given, by Otto Kallir, to the White House where it still hangs today.

CELEBRATE

To celebrate National Grandma Moses day, enjoy looking up and admiring her beautiful art work. Use #GrandmaMosesDay to post on social media.

HISTORY

In 1960, on Grandma Moses’ 100th birthday, in her honor,  New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, proclaimed the day “Grandma Moses Day”.  This day is an “unofficial” national holiday.

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