Grandma Moses: in the 21st Century [ハードカバー]

The paintings of Anna Mary Robertson Moses, which are predominantly landscapes, were initially and earnestly created by an uneducated, unprivileged, "common" "farm woman" of advanced years as gifts for her family, friends, and social peers. When brought to mass public attention in the Forties, the paintings were widely embraced by Americans of all walks of life for their inherent combination of unique talent, nostalgia for family, home, and community, apparent simplicity of method, sentimentality, anecdotal style, and vision of the country's agricultural past. Indeed, most of the paintings suggest a bucolic, Eden - like utopia in which regular and vigorous hard work is nonetheless a necessity for all able - bodied citizens.

Though Moses' paintings were initially embraced and promoted by elements within the cultural elite of the Forties, the wider public continued to cherish - and avidly purchase commercial reproductions of - Moses' work long after the art world that had discovered her had lost interest. Whether photographed with President Truman, interviewed in her home by Edward R. Murrow, or appearing on the cover of Life magazine, by the advent of the Fifties, Moses was celebrated as a quintessentially American icon in the tradition of Benjamin Franklin, Johnny Appleseed, Washington Irving, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, or Gary Cooper.

The process of promoting Moses was assisted by several key figures over the decades, but in Moses' case, nothing about her public image was fabricated, and her paintings, like her persona, sold themselves. As a hard - working, elderly widow who advocated traditional American values like industry and self - sufficiency, and whose appearance and mannerisms bespoke of a bygone era, Moses perfectly embodied an idealized representation of the archetypal "benign great grandmother," a figure most people, regardless of background, are sensitive to. Only 8 years after her death at 101 in 1961, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp bearing her name and a detail from her painting 'July Fourth.'

There is probably no major American artist whose work needs academic interpretation less than Moses', and while critical assessments of her work and life are welcomed, the balance of the essays in Grandma Moses In The 21st Century read like superfluous, self - important, and slightly pretentious padding, especially since the paintings speak perfectly well for themselves in a plain visual language assessable to all.

However, John Cardinal's investigative, straight forward, and always - relevant discussion of Moses is a model of what a good art essay should be, and Jane Kallir's plate - by - plate commentary provides the necessary factual information required without straying into unnecessary theory. The 87 color plates are gloriously reproduced and represent all periods of the artist's creative life.

Those who would like more information on Moses' life and work may also want to seek out a copy of Grandma Moses: My Life's History (1948), sadly out of print but still widely available via secondhand sources.